Runway
by bechloe-mitchsen
Summary: Beca shuts everybody out - don't take it personally - but is she about to shut out one too many? There's one girl who will hold out for her, who loves her unconditionally - but has she made one too many mistakes? Inspired by Anna Kendrick & Britt Snow's runway visit, 11.01.13. Enjoy! Bechloe.
1. Chapter 1

"You want to take _me-_" Beca indicated at herself with one hand, waving a finger in a circular motion "- to a _runway_ exhibition?"

"Yes!" Chloe said excitedly, pursing her the palms of her hands together. She cocked her head to one side with a smile on her face that she knew could convince Beca. "Please? I know the _perfect _dress for you to wear too. We'll look aca-_awesome!_" she added as an afterthought with a shrug of her shoulders.

Beca sighed, with one side of her bottom lip nipped between her teeth in anxiety. She looked away from Chloe - determined not to be drawn in.

"Fine." she said eventually, realising Chloe was still looking at her. And unable to resist, she had to agree to go. She nodded her head, resigned that she had lost this argument.

Chloe had that about her and Beca couldn't stand it; she had this way, a manner of some sort - she couldn't really put her finger on it- except it was like nothing Beca had come across before. She'd never felt it before. No matter how hard Beca tried to ignore it she just couldn't resist something about her. It scared Beca, a lot.

"_Really_? Don't bail on me - you promise you'll come?" Chloe's eyes widened in excitement.

"Yes, really. I promise." Beca nodded. "Just, please - before you get any ideas - _no pink."_

"No pink - I swear!" Chloe clapped her hands together and beamed, and Beca rolled her eyes. "Oh come on Beca, it'll be fun." she leant in close, grabbing Beca's hands and pulling them towards her stomach. It caught Beca by surprise, and she tensed, unsure what Chloe was about to do or say. Their faces were close, she could feel Chloe's minty breath against her cheek.

Chloe hesitated, smiling cheekily. Beca wished she weren't so close, she could see every streak of blue in her bright eyes, and it was - well, she found she couldn't think of anything else.

"There'll be champagne, and everything!" Chloe said eventually.

"Great!" Beca said, pulling away. She found herself giving Chloe an awkward thumbs up. "Look - I've, er, I gotta go - call me - later." she stepped backwards a couple of paces, then, nodding and pointing over her shoulder, added nervously - "I have a class."

She could feel her cheeks, all hot and flushed, and a pulse beat heavily in her chest. God damn, she thought, indignant; why did it have to be Chloe that made her feel like this?

"Oh, ok! Catch you later then." Chloe said, raising a hand as if to wave, but it just hovered motionless and level with her shoulder. She felt embarrassed, watching Beca walk away. She blinked heavily, and exhaled - feeling her eyes prickle as though she were to cry right there, in the auditorium. It was empty, and there were few people around at this time of day, but still, she wasn't going to cry.

And especially not over a girl.

She pulled her phone from her pocket, and typed quickly;

_'hey bree. didnt work. she wasnt interested. thanks for help tho. nevermind x'_

She hit send, and walked over to the benches at the back of the hall to sit and wait for a reply. Instead, a few minutes later, her phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Aubrey. Are you okay?"

Chloe nodded, and picked at the varnish on her nails with one hand. "Fine."

"What happened?"

"I asked her to come with me to the show, I said it would be great, and I could tell she didn't want to go - it's not her thing, I don't even know why I asked her - anyway, _eventually_ she said yes - but-"

"-Wait, so she agreed to go with you then? That's awesome!"

"Well, yeah, but -"

"When you said it didn't work, I thought she'd downright turned you down, Chlo - she's going with you, I don't understand - why are you so upset?"

"She didn't want to... I could tell - and-" Chloe hesistated.

"And?" Aubrey's voice questioned from the crackly speaker of Chloe's cell.

Chloe thought about how close she had been, stood next to Beca. So close she could see all the tiny fibers of mascara on her eyelashes, and the expertly applied eyeshadow that framed her eyes - her eyes that made Chloe smile, they always had - every time she'd seen her. From that first day they'd met at the activities fayre, she found herself drawn in, gravitating towards them. She got a feeling in her stomach, a warmth in her body that spread to every extremity, like electricity - like the blood that went through every vein of her body - that feeling for Beca was _there_. Always.

And how her legs had not buckled from beneath her when she stared into Beca's eyes she would never know. They were stood so close. She had leaned in, inadvertently, and their noses almost touched. Chloe had nearly forgot what she was going to tell her. She had felt Beca's fingers in her own, pulled close to her stomach. She supposed she had just expected Beca to hold her waist, as everyone else had. Instead her hands had remained gripped tightly into Chloe's palms; and what surprised her so pleasantly was how they fit there so well, so neatly and comfortably, like it... Well, like it was where they were meant to be. She had gotten lost in Beca's eyes, all so momentarily, but she found herself thinking that all that had to be done - right there, in that moment - and nothing else in the world mattered but this - and it was for Chloe to let go of one of Beca's hands, to reach up and brush away the curl of hair that had fallen in front of her face. She wanted to run a finger along Beca's jawline - for it was perfect, and she could see that up close she looked almost porcelain, her pale skin soft and delicate under the bright audatorium lights. Chloe wanted to cup her fingers into Beca's hair, and lean in slowly, touch her lips to Beca's own. She wanted to kiss her and she had wanted nothing more in her life. It felt like her chest were tight - her body wasn't her own - and yet - yet if she could just kiss Beca - feel her lips pressed warm against her own - she would feel whole. She would feel that _something_ that just wasn't quite right, and it would all be put back to normal again.

And then, replaying what had happened in her mind, she remembered how Beca had tensed, flinching as she had pulled her close. And everything seemed to break. It wasn't right anymore. Kissing her wasn't what was supposed to happen._ Beca didn't feel like she did_. She wasn't interested.

"Chloe? You still there? What happened?" Aubrey's voice crackled again in her ear.

"Hey, sorry Bree, I must have lost signal," she laughed nervously, rubbing her forehead in her hand. "I'm still here. And nothing happened. She just... went."

"What do you mean, she just 'went'?"

"She just left, ran off. Said she had a class to go to."

Aubrey paused for a second, before - "Call her. Call her now, and say you will meet her after class, and go for dinner or something. Tell her your mom sent too much carbonara, or whatever. Make something up. Just don't -" Chloe heard her sigh - "don't let her get away. I can tell you really like her. And I can't see why she wouldn't reciprocate. She's not a Treblemaker, after all!"

Chloe laughed. "Yeah, I guess. I just... I really don't think she's interested."

"Chloe - for gods sake. It's Beca. She's a DJ. She wears spikes in her ears. She listens to some of the _worst _music I have _ever_ heard, and seems to think she can make a living selling the obnoxious crap to anyone who will listen. She keeps kohl eyeliner in business. Does she really seem like the kind of girl who would go with you to a runway show? Think about it."

Chloe smiled. "I guess you're right."

"Now go get her!" Aubrey said, and Chloe heard the phone beep as Aubrey cut her off.

"I will." Chloe smiled to herself. Nobody had made her feel like this - and she wasn't going to lose her without a fight. "I'm gonna go get her!"


	2. Chapter 2

"Beca!"

Beca looked up, a waving hand in front of her face finally catching her attention. The hand belonged to Jesse.

"What?" she snapped.

"I've been talking to you for the past twenty minutes. You like, being all mysterious on me again?"

"No - I just- I'm fine. I'm just busy." she said. As if trying to convince him, she folded her arms, pursed her lips, and nodded. She felt better for it, as though she had convinced herself.

Jesse seemed less impressed.

"Right, ok, well, can you be 'fine' and like, concentrate a bit more? You've put all the twelve-inch vinyls with the sevens, and you mixed up 'David Bowie' with 'Janice Joplin'" Jesse waved the misplaced records in each hand. Beca's bottom lip twitched. He looked at her with a furrowed brow. "Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you? No smart-ass comment? Should I check if you have a fever?"

"I'm fine. Leave it." Beca said, and snatched the records from his hands. After her brain had cleverly told Chloe in the auditorium that she was late for her next class - which wasn't even running that afternoon - she had called Luke and asked if she could drop in for an extra shift. She had to do something to keep her mind away from Chloe. So far, it hadn't really seemed to work.

"Easy tiger." Jesse laughed, turning back to his pile of unsorted discs. Beca put the Bowie record in the right place, then glared at him through the gap between the 'B' and 'C' shelf. He didn't notice. She took a deep breath, and realised she was going to have to work harder and shake this whole 'Chloe' thing off. It was driving her up the wall. She'd just deal with it when she saw her for this stupid runway thing she'd agreed to go watch with her.

She turned back to her pile of records, and began filing through to find any more that could be shelved in the 'B's. 'Buzzcocks… Bradshaw… Beale…' Beca dropped the record sharply on the table. "For god's sake…" she muttered, realising how stupid she felt.

"So." Jesse's voice suddenly came from the other side of the room.

"So, what?" she said, without even looking away from her assigned crate of jumbled discs and records. Her face was flushed after having her unexpected panic at seeing someone have the same surname as Chloe, and she wasn't about to give Jesse any more ammunition.

"You gonna tell me what's wrong?" he called.

"Just in case you missed it last time - still nope."

"Ok."

Feigning shock that he was to abandon his argument so quickly she leant around the side of a shelving unit to glare in his direction. He was facing away from her, rifling through a crate. She watched him for a moment, with a raised eyebrow. "I just thought, y'know. I could… I don't know. Sort it out." he didn't look up. "Make you.. like… Feel, a little better, maybe?"

She folded her arms again, and leant on the shelving unit. "Oh really? Make me feel better? Why would you want to do that?" she snapped. He looked up from his pile.

"Wow, Captain Mysterious is acknowledging my existence once again. Isn't that a surprise?"

Beca laughed at him, out of pity more than anything. "Look, Jesse - what's your pro-"

"I don't have a problem." he said, walking towards her. As he passed he waved a record in front of her face. She swatted it away. "Seems like you're the one with the problem."

"Really? Go on then, Captain Sherlock, do care to explain?" She stayed where she was, watching him trail around the radio station, shelving records and cd's up quickly.

"First off - Sherlock wasn't a captain. He was an inspector. So let me inspect."

"Wow. This is awkward. I thought Sherlock was actually a detective, so, er…" Beca chewed on her thumb nail, and tried not to laugh.

"Thought you didn't watch films?" Jesse said, with his eyebrows raised and his arms folded across his chest.

"Ah. See, the great Sherlock thinks he caught me out, however, before there's a film, there's usually a book. You should read one one day." she pointed, and jabbed him in the chest, just above where his arms crossed. "They're good."

"Funny." Jesse nodded. "Real funny."

Beca nodded, and curtseyed, before returned to her crate. "Finished with the interrogation then, Mr Holmes?"

"Give me time." he said, and walked to his box backwards, still facing her with a furrowed brow. "I'll catch you out." Beca shook her head. As she did so, her phone buzzed in her pocket. It was a message, from Chloe;

"Hey. need to finalise some details with you about picking up this dress for the weeknd, can you call when you get out of class? C x"

Oh god, Beca thought, the dress. She quickly typed a message back, explaining she would be quite late ('the class was running on a bit, useless lecturer!') - so if Chloe didn't mind waiting until then - then realised she was blatently lying to the poor girl. If nothing more, she liked her as a friend. A great friend. Best friend? Perhaps.

She deleted everything, and decided it was time to tell her the truth.

"Hey. Sorry, I shouldn't have bailed on you so quick. Not actually at class. Working an extra shift at the radio station. Give me an hour, can I meet you somewhere after work? x"

Send.

Beca hopped up to sit on the table and crossed her legs beneath her. Her phone was cradled in the palm of her hands, and she tapped the back of it impatiently waiting for a reply. It came soon enough;

"Sure :-) xo"

Beca beamed, but tried to bury her face in the curls of hair that bundled past her cheeks. She couldn't help it.

—-

"Sure :-) xxx"

Chloe typed out the message, then scrutinised her decision with one eyebrow raised

Three x's.

Too much?

She deleted them all.

Now there's not enough, she thought. After a good few minutes of furious deliberation between combinations of 'x's, 'o's - and even contemplated at one point a face with one eye winking - she stuck a single 'x' and a single 'o' on the end of the message and hit send and threw her phone onto her bed before she got the chance to change her mind.

She shook her head at the thought of her - Chloe Beale - struggling to flirt with someone. It made no sense! Mind you, Beca made no sense. First she was at class, and now she wasn't? Strange. Either way it didn't matter. She knew exactly where to go now, the radio station was only round the corner from her dorm.

She looked at her reflection in her dorm room bad, she thought, and winked. Her phone buzzed again - and she turned and leapt in an incredibly ungraceful manner onto the bed to try and find it in the piles of pillows.

"Ace. I finish around 6. I'll call you. B xx"

No you won't, Chloe thought, with a smile; I'll find you at the station first.


	3. Chapter 3

"What the hell are you so happy about now?" Jesse asked. Beca glanced up, and quickly shoved her phone back into her pocket. "Five minutes ago you looked like someone had told you Santa isn't real."

"Santa isn't real?" Beca gasped, and planted her hand across her mouth. Rather than leaving it there, she found herself thinking of what she would say if she weren't totally inept at any form of honest social conversation.

"_Jesse_," she played out in her mind. "_I am excited. And I am scared. I've never felt what I feel right now. I've never had a best friend, not like this anyway. I want to make sure I do things right, I can be a pain in the ass sometimes, and really mess things up. And I don't want to. Oh - and I'm also still finding it damn hilarious that you didn't know the difference between a detective and an inspector, but that's another story for another day._"

Instead, she considered herself to have done a pretty good job of shirking the conversation elsewhere; "What's made you so interested in me today anyway?" she said. Her cheeks still felt a little flushed. She hopped off the desk and turned back to her crate of unsorted records that didn't seem to be getting any smaller, hoping Jesse hadn't noticed the colour in her face.

"Told ya," Jesse said, walking towards her. "I'm Sherlock Holmes baby!" She glanced over her shoulder, and he was stood behind her, hands on hips, looking like - well, looking like an idiot. She laughed anyway.

"Ah - another smile!" he joked, and shoved her a little in the shoulder.

"Hey! No need for that!" Beca looked at him, her arms folded. With Jesse stood in front of her, all six foot-something of him just towered over him, and she felt even more miniature than normal.

"I didn't do anything." He said, suddenly blank faced.

"Jesse -"

"Seriously, if you're imagining things, maybe we _should_ check your temperature, I mean, you could be really sick-" his face filled with feigned concern.

"Jesse!" Beca did nothing more than raise an eyebrow, and look away from his gaze. He was too close, and it made her a little uncomfortable.

"Are you sick, Beca? Is something wrong?" he faked a concerned face, then grabbed her by the shoulders, flinging her round in a circle, as if inspecting her all over.

"I'm fine!" but this time she laughed again, as he patted her down all over. God damn she was too ticklish for this! "What the hell are you checking for?" she shouted, between wriggles and giggles.

"I'm just making sure you're alright - no foreign bodies, no abnormal temperature. No abnormal bodies - wait-" he paused, and glanced -

"Jesse," she said, and pointed to her eyes. "I'm up here, if you please."

"Sure," he said. He was once again close to her. He smiled - and it was warm, and homely - like a friend should be - and she felt a little less uneasy. He wasn't all bad.

* * *

Chloe finished fastening up the last of the dark blue buttons on her peacoat, and tucked her scarf inside the collar. Her red hair tumbled in curls onto the lapels of the coat, and she smiled. She couldn't remember ever feeling this nervous. She couldn't remember feeling this excited. It could all go horribly wrong - and yet. Yet there was hope. Hope that Beca felt something. Anything.

She shut the dorm block door behind her, making sure she still had the pass to get back in again later, and set off into the cold evening air. Her cheeks were warm, and the sting of the winter wind had extra bite. She pulled her scarf up further around her face, as she crossed the University courtyard, towards the long street on the far corner of which stood the radio station. Whilst it was dark she could still see that the ever darkening sky was thick with cloud - maybe it would snow? Stuffing her hands into her pockets she secretly hoped so.


	4. Chapter 4

"I, er, I think I'm gonna go get a bite to eat," Jesse said, thumbing over his shoulder. "Should I grab you something?"

"No, thanks, I'm good." She turned away from him, uncomfortable. He had leant and put a hand on her shoulder, and it was starting to concern Beca that Barden students clearly had no concept of personal space.

"You sure?" He asked, and kept his hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, really sure," she shrugged it off, and he let it be. She avoided turning back to face the room - pretending she was really interested in shuffling through the few remaining cassettes that were stacked in her tray - until she heard the door of the station click shut, signalling his exit.

She didn't mind him, if she were to be truthful about the whole situation, but she found his need to constantly please her annoying; his need to check if she was alright, check if she wanted anything, check if she wanted to talk - it was starting to grate. She really didn't need saving, and really _really_ not by him. She would love for somebody to take away the way she felt about Chloe, but she definitely didn't think it was going to be him. She hopped up onto the bench, and tucked her legs beneath her. Without even consciously realising she found her mind wandering back to the auditorium, and whereas she had been uncomfortable being so close to Jesse, she realised she had been nervous instead, about how close she had been to Chloe. She shook her head, then pressed the palms of her hands into her eyes. There was no reason to be nervous - she told herself - nothing was going to happen. Ever. She was simply nervous as she'd never truly had any girl friends like her. She'd never been invited to this kind of 'gig' before with anyone.

She pressed her palms harder into her eyes, so hard that the black she could see with her eyelids shut turned to swirling multicoloured representations of the tiny blood vessels in her eyes. It gave her a headache, but at least it blocked out the image of Chloe, that she couldn't shake off. They had been standing so close she had seen her own reflection in Chloe's bright blue eyes; so close she had seen where there were a few of her wavy auburn hairs that didn't lie perfectly flat with the rest of the tumbling curls, so close she could see the slight wetness on her bottom lip where Chloe had bitten it.  
She felt a strange electrifying pulse, deep in the pit of her stomach, and she pulled her palms away from her eyes. It took a minute for her eyes to adjust - but she swore, beyond the dissolving black smears she could still see Chloe, stood right in front of her -

"Beca?" Chloe said, "Are you alright? I just let myself in," she pointed over her shoulder, "The door was unlocked."

"Chloe! What are you doing here?" Beca said, hopping off the table. Her eyes had fully readjusted to the strange halogen lights of the studio, and yet she still couldn't beleive it. She found herself, albeit sheepishly, beaming from ear to ear.

Chloe shrugged, and smiled back. "I guess I just thought I'd come and surprise you." She reached around, and unwound the scarf that adorned her neck. Beca - and she couldn't in a million years tell you why - felt the same electrifying spasm as a few minutes ago, deep in the pit of her stomach. It tingled within her, from tip to toe, almost rendering her speechless.

"Thanks," She smiled. "But I'm still on shift for another -" she glanced up at the clock on the wall "-well, at least another hour and a half."

"Oh." Chloe's face dropped for a second. "I was kinda hoping we could go grab something to eat instead before everywhere shuts? Talk about this dress shopping we're going to have to do. There's a great Mexican down the road. Best. Burritos. In. Town." She waved a hand enthusiastically. "_It's the tits_." she added, and hopped up on the bench next to Beca.

Beca shook her head. "I'm really sorry."

She felt awful. There was nothing more that she wanted to do than drop the stupid box of unsorted records and go and have dinner with Chloe - but Jesse would never allow it, let alone Luke.

"It's okay." Chloe said, and put a hand on Beca's knee. "I can wait,"

Beca looked up, and realised how close Chloe had leant towards her again. Her chest tightened - but this time she wasn't going to run away. Chloe's head was dipped, ever so slightly towards Beca, but their eyes seemed to be locked together. She couldn't bring herself to look away. It was like Chloe had that grip over her again, and she just couldn't break from it.

And her smile, Beca thought - and god _damn_ she couldn't help but think about it - her smile just lit up her entire face. She was... she was _beautiful, _Beca thought. There was no other way to describe it, and even as the word did nothing more than fire itself through her mind she felt the blush rising in her cheeks. It was like nothing she had experienced before, and it welled up inside her, warm and inviting - as if to suggest that it was fine to feel like this. It was _right_ to feel like this.

Chloe did nothing but smile back at her and squeezing her knee ever so slightly;

"I wasn't even that hungry anyway."


	5. Chapter 5

'And who the bloody hell are you?'  
A voice from the doorway made the pair of them jump.

'Shit,' Beca muttered, jumping down from the table and pulling herself away from Chloe's hand. She didn't know why she felt it was appropriate to have spent the last few moments with it resting on Beca's knee; it had just seemed like the done thing to do.

'Chloe, this is Jesse,' Beca said. Chloe waved a hand awkwardly in the direction of the man who had entered the radio station room, and, in her eyes, ruined a moment.

'Nice to meet you Jesse.' she said. He blinked at her.

'Sure.' he said, before turning back towards Beca. 'She's not supposed to be down here, you know that.'

Chloe raised an eyebrow. Jerk, she thought.

'It's ok,' Chloe said, 'I was just leaving. I only dropped in to find out when Beca finished work.'

Jesse dropped the two bags of takeout food he had been carrying on the desk next to where Chloe was still perched.

'In an hour.' He said, without even looking at either of them.

'Actually...' Beca said, and Chloe looked over to her. She was chewing the nail of her thumb on one hand, and had her other arm folded across her chest. 'About that...'

Jesse turned to face her, and rolled his eyes. 'What about that?'

'I was wondering - you know, seeing as how I'm pretty much done with my work - and it's not like we're rushed off our feet - I mean, would you - you know - cover, for me, if I had to leave early?'

Chloe suddenly felt all warm inside. Beca was adorable when she was nervous. And she was doing this for her. For them.

'No, Beca-' Chloe tried to interject, waving her hand in protest and sliding off the table 'it's totally fine, I'll wait for you outside.'

Jesse noticed Chloe watching him closely as she made for the exit. He raised an eyebrow at her & glanced between the pair of them. Beca looked at him silently, with pleading eyes. He couldn't refuse her when she looked like that.

'Fine.' He sighed. 'Go. I'll cover for you if Luke turns up.'

'Thanks Jess!' Beca grinned, but she was already out of the door, with Chloe close behind, before Jesse even had a chance to drop in with another cheeky wind up.

He pulled up a chair at the desk where the last of his unsorted discs lay, and began unwrapping the Chinese food he had brought back in. He left one carrier untouched; he had brought that food parcel back to surprise Beca with. He'd take it back for Benji now instead, he'd appreciate the sentiment, Jesse thought. He also toyed with the thought that Beca wouldn't have appreciated the sentiment whether this Chloe had rolled up or not. She was a tough nut, he thought - and found himself smiling. A tough nut - but not an impossible one.


	6. Chapter 6

'You totally didn't have to do that you know,' Chloe said, turning to face Beca as she shut the station door behind her, 'I could have waited for you.'

'Out here? Are you kidding? No,' Beca shook her head. It was cold out here, and she felt the bite of the wind sharp on her face and hands. She hadn't brought a coat, and was forced to pull her hands inside the ends of her sleeves. 'It's fine anyway. I needed a break.'

Chloe giggled, and the chimes of laughter ran through Beca's body, infecting her and making her smile uncontrollably back. You're ridiculous, she thought to herself.

'So why do you work there, if all they have you do is stack shelves?' Chloe asked as they set off walking, side by side, down the dark street. She watched Beca fidget nervously with a loose thread between a finger and thumb that had been pulled from the hem of one of her sleeves.

'I just want to play music. That's all I want to do, and I figure if I keep at it long enough I get the chance to be able to do it one day. Luke, the station manager, he gigs a lot - and I've dropped tons of my mixes into his in tray - he says he'll listen to them and get me some work, so you know, I'll keep trying.' She shrugged and didn't look up at Chloe as she said this, and she knew it was a difficult subject to talk about.

'It's your dad, right? He doesn't like you doing it? Why?' Chloe asked.

'Yeah well he thinks you can only be great in todays world if you have a college degree.' Beca waved a hand nonchalantly. 'I mean, that's great if you're, you know, into all that stuff. I'm not bothered about saving the world from a disease or solving some great lawsuit. I just want to get out of here really and do what I want to do.'

Beca noticed that Chloe was watching her intently, and it inexplicably made her blush. 'Anyway, enough about me.' Embarrassed, Beca hurriedly tried to turn the conversation away from herself.

'It's cool, I didn't know that about you. And now I do.' Chloe gave Beca one of her smiles that were starting to become accustomed to driving her crazy. 'Oh shoot!' She said suddenly, and pointed towards a block of buildings a little way in the distance 'I swear- if it's shut-'

'This place is called 'Bohemian Wrapsody'?' Beca could just about make out the name from the dimly lit sign that hung above the restaurant. 'Are you kidding?'

'Seriously,' Chloe said, and quickened her pace, 'Best burritos ever!'

Beca rolled her eyes. She found she had to jog slightly to keep up with Chloe's strides.

'God damn it' Chloe said as she reached the front door of the shop. There were no lights on inside and she gave the handle a little shake, but it was locked hard. 'The bloody place is shut!'

'Never mind,' Beca said. 'We'll find somewhere else.' Chloe turned around.

Beca was standing a few yards behind her. Chloe hadn't noticed but she'd stuffed her hands inside the ends of her sleeves. She was trying to rub her palms together to get warm. Her breath came out in plumes around her - the air temperature had definitely dropped, and quickly. She noticed for the first time Beca wasn't wearing a coat.

'Jesus Beca, you must be freezing,' Chloe said, and reached up to unravel her scarf. 'Here, put this on.' It was the least she could do, she thought.

Beca protested, waving a hand. 'No it's fine - come on, we'll just try somewhere else, I'll warm up then.'

'No! I insist!' And with that, Chloe had removed her thick scarf from around her neck and had walked towards Beca. She saw Beca shiver as she approached, and hoped it was nothing more than the cold.

With the scarf in a loop between her hands she gently reached over Beca's head, and draped it around her neck. She saw Beca stiffen slightly as she reached in close towards her. _Take control Chloe, it will be fine,_ she said to herself, but she found she couldn't shake the nervous butterflies that lingered in the deep of her stomach. She bit her bottom lip. Beca shivered again, and Chloe slid her hands along the scarf before looping one end under the other and pulling it tighter under her chin. The back of her hand brushed Beca's jaw as she did so and Chloe felt her body tingle from tip to toe. It was like nothing she had ever felt before.

Beca looked back into Chloe's eyes, unable to move. She was transfixed by her, leaning in towards her, feeling her warm breath on her cold face. She shivered, and saw Chloe nip her bottom lip between her teeth with a nervous smile. She wanted to look away, but she couldn't, and even though Chloe averted her gaze for just a second to finish tucking the scarf into her collar, she remained still, enthralled by the bright blue of Chloe's eyes.

For just a second Chloe looked as though she were going to say or do something. Her hand rested on the fold of the scarf she had just placed in Beca's chest for just a moment longer than necessary, and she lifted her gaze slowly from her hands to Beca's eyes, who were watching her own intently. Beca took a short sharp breath in - Chloe felt her chest move beneath her hands - and as if jarred by an unseen bolt of electricity Chloe pulled away. She looked at the floor awkwardly.

'What's the matter?' Beca asked.

'Nothing,' Chloe said quickly, and looked back up at Beca. She looked crestfallen, Chloe thought. 'Why?'

'Oh,' Beca stammered. 'No, er, no reason. You just looked like you were going to.. Say something. I thought you were going to say something.' She added, looking anywhere but at Chloe. She stuffed her hands into her pockets awkwardly.

Chloe took a deep breath. She watched Beca for a second, who tried to look everywhere but directly at her. Eventually Beca realised she wanted to look nowhere but at Chloe, and their eyes fell upon one others again.

Chloe smiled.

_Now,_ she thought, _kiss her now._


	7. Chapter 7

Beca looked across at Chloe, who, whilst she was looking down, had a shy smile creeping across her face. Her lips were pursed as if she were trying to hide something.

"I, er... actually.. I wanted to... Ask.. I mean..." Chloe looked up from her feet, and suddenly squealed. Beca jumped and swung around wildly, her arms flinging up to cover her head. "_Snow_!"

"_What_?!"

"Look-" Chloe reached across and pulled something from Beca's hair "-it's snowing!"

"Good grief - what is wrong with you?" Beca said, flushing furiously and swatting Chloe's hand away.

Chloe simply grinned. "Sorry. God, look how much is coming down!" she beamed, and held her hands out to the sky as the snow was well and truly beginning to fall thick and fast.

Beca stepped backwards from Chloe, and couldn't help but smile. Chloe had her arms out at her side, her head poised towards the sky and her eyes closed. "You're such a weirdo..." Beca said, shaking her head, but Chloe ignored her and carried on. The snow was falling heavier by the second though, and Beca begun to shiver worse than before. She tucked her hands up into the crux of her armpit and flinched against the bite of the cold.

"I'm not weird." Chloe said suddenly, and stopped to face Beca, who laughed.

"S-s-sure?" Beca shivered. She tried to laugh but her face was being frozen solid from the snow pelting at her from all directions. It danced along the pavement in thick, wind driven flurries, settling quickly in the cracks and crevices of walls and the joins between the pavement and the road - and had she not been so bloody cold she would have admired its elegance.

"Come on," Chloe leant out and grabbed Beca's hand, pulling her from her slight shelter at the back of the sidewalk. "Lets go back to mine before you freeze to death!" She pulled her free arm up across her face to shield it against the cold. She started running, and Beca resisted little, even when she felt Chloe thread her fingers between her own.

They ran as quickly as they could through the storm, Beca's stomach doing somersaults every time she felt Chloe's hand pull her own. She swore that through the whip and the howl of the wind she could hear Chloe giggling to herself as she pulled her along. By the time they reached the glass doors to let them into the block of dormitories Beca's ears and face hurt due to the cold. It had bled right into her bones, and she ached.

Chloe fumbled to find the key fob in her coat with one hand for a second, before Beca realised and dropped the other one, biting her lip and looking everywhere but at Chloe. Chloe blushed, but smiled coyly nonetheless. "Come on," she said as they bundled through the door. Snow followed them inside, thanks to the clumps that were on their shoulders, hair and stuck to their shoes, and the short blast of wind that the open door allowed in. "I'm up on second floor. Aubrey's gonna be out, so we should be okay."

Beca shook her head gently to shake the flakes from her hair. "Yeah, she really doesn't like me, I get it."

"Oh no, don't take it personally." Chloe said, leading the way up the stairs. "It's just... she's... competitive. And pretty protective too."

"Wow, third grade jealousy." Beca said, cocking her head to one side. "I'd forgotten all about that. I'll be sure to make sure she doesn't see us hanging out." Beca said, and Chloe heard an unexpected sting in her voice.

"She's fine." Chloe said, "Now come on, enough of Aubrey. I see her every single day, your company will make a nice change." she smiled over her shoulder at Beca, who was a few steps behind. She stopped at the top of the staircase to wait, chewing on the tip of one finger, with that shy smile she always found herself doing when facing Beca creeping onto her face again.

"What?" Beca said, "Why are you watching me like that?"

"You're absolutely... well-" Chloe looked at her. The snow that hadn't shaken from her clothes had now melted due to the heat of the dorm block, and was starting to seep through her clothes. Her dark eye make up was running, in quite a messy fashion too, down into panda eyes, and her hair had been whipped into a soggy mess by the wind. "You're absolutely wet through." Chloe blushed saying this, and felt the deep of her stomach tingle. "I mean, from the snow." she added nervously. She felt the urge to reach out and pull Beca close, hold her shivering frame in her arms, but this time she resisted.

"Yeah, um, about that..." Beca glanced down at her damp clothes. The tiny hairs on her arms stood up with goosebumps, and she rubbed her arms to try to ease the burn of the warmth against her skin, which still felt whipped from the cold outside.

"I'll grab you a towel, come on, my room is this way." Chloe said, holding the door open. "You can shower, get warm and I'll find us something for dinner. I don't know about you, but I'm starving." She followed close behind Beca, pointing to the third door along the corridor, and trying desperately not to think of Beca in the shower...

"Ooh, how polite, ever the gentleman you are," Beca smirked, as Chloe held her dorm room door open.

"Shut up and get inside." Chloe laughed. She pulled a fluffy towel down from atop her wardrobe and handed it to Beca, who stood awkwardly in the doorway, tucking a loose strand of damp hair behind her ear nervously.

"Thanks," she said, taking it from her, and holding it close to her chest.

"That way, third door on the right." Chloe pointed over Beca's shoulder and out into the corridor as she went to leave the room. "Oh, and take these." Beca turned back to Chloe, who watched her expectantly with a pile of neatly folded clothes held out in her extended arms. "Sweatpants." she beamed.

Beca took the clothes from her and disappeared out of the room. Chloe couldn't help but smile. Alright, so she hadn't admitted quite yet to Beca how things were between them, but she had her here, in her room, and things seemed good between them. Well, Beca hadn't run anywhere yet at the very least. She tried to surpress her smile again, but couldn't help it, and found herself clenching her fists tight with excitement, then flinging her arms up in the air. She felt ridiculous, delirious - but that was all alright.

Things really were alright.


	8. Chapter 8

Beca's skin tingled as the hot water pinged off her body. She wasn't entirely sure, however, that it was to do with the heat. Steam quickly filled the room, and she inhaled deeply, trying to shake Chloe from her mind and instead allow the warmth to work through her body. She stretched her arms above her head, feeling the strong jets pelt hard on her chest.

"You shout it out," she hummed, flexing her neck under the hot water. "but I can't hear a word you say,"

She winced as she tried to release her stiff shoulders that ached from the cold.

"I'm talking loud, not saying much..."

She was soon warm, but found comfort beneath the shower. And here she didn't have to think about Chloe waiting for her in her dorm room. Not that anything was going to happen, she reminded herself sternly, feeling her lower stomach tingle once again. She closed her eyes, feeling the jets of water hard on her face.

Instead of the dark relief of the inside of her eyelids she had hoped for, she instead saw Chloe in her mind, her face close to her own. She was flustered, her cheeks pink from the steam of the shower. _Oh god Beca,_ she thought to herself, _what are you doing_ - but Chloe leant in closer and put a silencing finger gently to her lips, as if to put an end to her doubting thoughts. Beca smiled, glancing away from Chloe's eyes, and the rest of her body swam into view. It was toned, she thought. Athletic. And also wet, Beca noted with a gulp; Chloe glistened from the steam, every inch of her, from the tip of her nose to the rounds of her nipples that she could just see through the gap in Chloe's folded arms, was wet. Beca opened her eyes quickly, ignoring the twinge she felt deep in her core, and was faced with nothing more than the wall of the shower.

She took a deep breath, and turned the lever to switch off the water. She quickly rubbed her hair dry as best she could (she couldn't help but notice the towel smelled like Chloe, and it sent a tingle through her body, which she tried to ignore once again) and then dressed as quickly as possible into Chloe's sweatpants and hoody. She felt ridiculous; she wasn't a sweatpants kind of girl. And the hoody? _Pastel pink_. Chloe would pay for this, she thought, scooping the towel up and heading out of the bathroom and back along the corridor towards Chloe's dorm room. She counted the doors along, and knocked before walking in.

* * *

Chloe heard the knock, but was not at all prepared. She was half bent over, reaching for a screw top lid which she had accidentally flung down the back of her bed. This wouldn't have been so bad had she bothered to carry on getting dressed before serving up two tumblers of her homebrew cherry liquor, and thus losing the lid half way through the process. She found herself straddling the bed in nothing but a pair of teal knickers and bra, with her butt in the air, and pointed firmly towards the door - through which someone had just entered.

"Oh _shit_!" she heard Beca say, and as Chloe uprighted herself, she saw Beca swing quickly out of the room, shutting the door with behind her.

"It's fine," she called as she pulled on a long sleeved sweater over her head, and quickly threw on some shorts, "I'm decent now."

"Sorry," Beca said sheepishly. Her hair was tied up in a messy ponytail, and the last of her eyeliner still inked around her eyes. Chloe blinked stupidly at her a couple of times, before realising she was holding her towel out for her to take.

"It's fine." Chloe repeated, waving a hand and taking Beca's damp towel and clothes from her. "I'm pretty confident, about all this." she indicated to her upper torso with her spare hand. She saw out of the corner of her eye Beca glance up at the ceiling nervously, her lips pursed, and she couldn't help but smile to herself. "Here," she said, handing over one of two glasses of the liquid she'd poured out before losing the lid.

"What's this?" Beca asked, taking it from her.

"Homemade cherry liquor. My brother makes it - he's at Northwestern." she added with pride, and took a deep mouthful.

"Wow," Beca said after taking a gulp. "Jesus this stuff's strong."

"Yeah, he majored in chemistry, and they do stuff like that in lab class, apparently," Chloe waved a hand nonchalantly in Beca's direction, who nodded nervously. "It's fine, nobody's ever died from drinking this stuff."

"Well in that case!" Beca said, tipping her glass with false enthusiasm.

"You'll be fine." she winked, and swallowed the rest of her glass in one gulp. "It's not even twenty per-cent."

Beca paused, her glass half way to her mouth. _Not even twenty per-cent_...

"Anyway," Chloe continued, unaware, "I checked the kitchen, there's nothing been left to eat - Aubrey must have eaten out with - with someone. So it's cherries - or nothing, I'm afraid." She took Beca's half empty glass from her hand and put her own next to it, topping them both up with liquor. "Well, we could ring out, but five glasses equals your five-a-day, right?"

"Yeah, um, I'm not sure that's entirely how it works," Beca laughed. "But it's a worthy social experiment though, so I guess I'm game."

And through the bottle they drank - and quickly too - and soon enough the pair of them felt light headed and giggly, the alcohol easily taking advantage of their empty stomachs.

"And then," Chloe said, her words slurring slightly. "That's when I had to leave." She giggled. "Who does that, after like, five seconds? And in their _pants_!" They were sat opposite each other, on either ends of Chloe's bed. The empty bottle lay abandoned on the floor, the lid clearly no longer required. Beca laughed, and Chloe felt herself tingling.

"I am sorry, Miss Beale," Beca smirked. She reached across and placed a hand on Chloe's knee. "is talking about this making you blush?"

"No." Chloe smiled, shaking her head and looking away. "I don't blush. Ever."

Beca laughed again. "You're blushing right now." she waved her glass in the direction of Chloe's face, who ducked. "Right now, see!"

"I am not!" Chloe said, stubbornly. She smiled though, still, enjoying Beca's tipsy playful self.

"You are." Beca slurred. She lifted herself up onto her knees, wobbled slightly, then leant towards Chloe. She watched Beca getting closer, as if in slow motion. She trembled._ Kiss her_, she thought - and remembered it was not for the first time that day she had wanted to do so. Beca leant across and put one hand on Chloe's thigh to steady herself. In her other hand was her glass. "Wait." she said, to nobody in particular, and Chloe held her breath. Beca shifted her weight from her knees to the hand which rested on Chloe's leg, and leant even closer towards Chloe. Chloe felt her heart begin to race in her chest. A thick strand of Beca's hair fell across her face as she reached within a foot of Chloe's face. Chloe lifted a hand, to tuck it behind her ear - but just as she did so, Beca lurched to one side, and dropped her glass onto Chloe's bedside cabinet. Her steadying hand slipped from Chloe's thigh, and she gasped - Beca tried to pull herself upright quickly, but the alcohol stole her balance, and she lay, giggling, one side of her face pressed against Chloe's stomach, and her steadying hand somewhere near Chloe's butt.

After a second or two - which felt like a lifetime to Chloe, who had frozen, oddly paralysed by the warmth that Beca's touch was spreading through her body - Beca managed to steady herself, by pushing herself up on Chloe's knees. She blinked slowly as she did so, her face coming level with Chloe's own. They were merly inches apart. Chloe felt her stomach twist as Beca's breath - sweet from the liquor - brushed against her top lip.

"Sorry."

"It's fine." Chloe said, her voice tiny. Beca's eyes stared back big at her, her pupils wide and dark against the blue. Chloe trembled again, and Beca looked down at her arms that were covered in goosebumps.

"Are you cold?" Beca asked quietly. She lifted her hands from Chloe's knees having regained her balance, and slowly traced a line up one of Chloe's forearms. Chloe's chest heaved in response.

"No," she whispered, shaking her head a little, and nipping her bottom lip between her teeth, nervously. "No, I'm not cold." She felt anything but; a warmth was spreading, tingling in her core.

"Chloe?" Beca said, looking up into her eyes again. "Can I ask you something?" She blinked, hard as she spoke. Chloe smiled; she might be drunk, but she wasn't as far gone as Beca.

"Sure." she nodded.

"Why did you invite me to your thing?" Beca waved a hand and slouched back a little, as if to suggest Chloe should know exactly which 'thing' she meant. "You know, your dress, show thing."

Chloe didn't know what question she had been expecting, but it certainly hadn't been that.

"I, uh... I... I wanted to take you." she tried. "You're, um... You're my friend."

"So is Aubrey," Beca said, "Why didn't you take her?"

Chloe sighed. She would have to tell her. She _wanted_ to tell her. She shifted a little closer to Beca, but glanced away from her eyes. She saw Beca's chest, rising and falling, a slight increase in pace the closer she inched. She looked up, and locked her gaze with Beca's. Chloe leant out, and put a hand on Beca's knee, feeling her tremble beneath her palm. "It's alright." she whispered, and felt Beca's hand on the back of her own.

They were so close, and their foreheads pressed together, and Chloe saw Beca's pink lips, dangerously close to her own, then their noses touched, and she felt warm sweet air escape from Beca's mouth as it opened slightly, as if anticipating what was to come. Chloe felt a hand on her own thigh, which slid up to her waist, pulling her closer. Their breath came in sharp gasps as the gap between them closed. Chloe closed her eyes, and instantly felt Beca's mouth on her own, her lips pressing soft and warm.

"Don't." Beca whispered, as Chloe pulled away after a moment. "_Don_'t."

This time Chloe parted her lips slightly, and nipped Beca's bottom lip between her teeth. She felt Beca's fingertips brush up her sides, and she moaned into the kiss. Beca pressed back fiercely, her mouth opening. Chloe took the chance, slipping her tongue inside. Their mouths fought for dominance, and at the same time Chloe felt Beca lift herself onto her knees, then slide each leg around either side of Chloe's waist. She felt Beca's hands slide into the back of her hair as she lifted her head, ensuring their kiss didn't break. Her own hands toyed for a second with the hem of Beca's jumper, before she slid them up the back, and into the dip at the base of Beca's spine. Beca gasped, breaking from the kiss and moaning heartily as Chloe's fingers traced a pattern along the base of Beca's spine. Chloe smiled, and leant forward to kiss Beca's collarbone. The combination of Chloe's fingers and lips seemed to make Beca crumble, and she fell back on the bed, pulling Chloe down with her. Their heads bumped slightly as Beca landed, but Chloe decided she was to take control. She smiled, the tips of their noses touching slightly, and Beca smiled back. She had her right where she wanted her, and Beca looked like she was enjoying every minute. Chloe's insides fluttered as she adjusted her legs, now straddling Beca's tiny frame at the waist. She positioned her arms at either side of Beca's head, careful not to catch her hair under her palms. She planted a kiss on Beca's nose, then another on either cheek. Beca's eyes closed, and her back arched. This gave Chloe just enough of a chance to reach around and place a teasing brush over her earlobe. Beca shivered beneath her.

"This," Chloe whispered "is why I invited you..." She nipped Beca's earlobe in her mouth gently, and Beca moaned beneath her.

Chloe smiled, planting a trail of kisses along her jaw, across her chin, and down to the last inch of skin she could reach before Beca's hoody interrupted her plans.


	9. Chapter 9

_ "This," Chloe whispered "is why I invited you..." She nipped Beca's earlobe in her mouth gently, and Beca moaned beneath her. Chloe smiled, planting a trail of kisses along her jaw, across her chin, and down to the last inch of skin she could reach before Beca's hoody interrupted her plans._

Chloe sat up slightly, fingering the hem of the jumper which rested on Beca's hips. "Can... Can I?" She asked with a nervous smile. Beca pursed her lips. "It's okay - we don't have to-"

"It's okay," Beca nodded, and pushed herself up onto her elbows. "It's okay..."

She hooked her hands into the back of Chloe's tumbling curls, and as she did so Chloe planted a kiss on the tip of her nose. "It is okay," she whispered back, and gently began to lift the jumper up along Beca's stomach, then broke the kiss whilst she pulled it off over Beca's head. It was flung with careless abandon to the other side of the room.

Chloe's stomach stirred as she looked at the beautiful, beautiful girl in front of her. She had waited for what felt like an age for this, and there was nothing she wanted more than to explore every inch with gentle precision. She reached out her index finger, and trailed a line along Beca's torso, watching the goosepimples rise where her finger had been. Beca fell backwards onto the bed and Chloe saw her smile, her head angled backwards, her neck smooth and inviting. Chloe crept forwards, on her knees, placing her hands gently on Beca's slim hips. The waistband of the sweatpants rested just above Beca's navel, and Chloe begun by trailing gentle kisses where her finger had been, along Beca's smooth stomach, past the tattoo which delicately adorned her hip - stopping to kiss that for a second longer, knowing it had once been sore - and moving further up. One hand gently swirled up Beca's side, her nails soft and light, which caused Beca to shiver and twitch unexpectedly beneath her hands, whilst the other hand gently caressed her hip as if to sooth and ease Beca's nerves. "It's okay," Chloe repeated, her breath hot on Beca's stomach. "It's okay..."

"I know," she heard Beca say quietly.

Chloe crept further up Beca's body, and placed a kiss along the left side of rib, across the delicate ribbon of Beca's bra, following the curve of her chest, into the valley between her breasts, and round and up the opposite side of her neck. A throaty moan growled in Beca as she did so. Her smooth skin felt warm beneath her lips, and the taste of Beca's sweet perfume lingered on Chloe's mouth. She licked her lips, and felt Beca shiver as she placed them back to her earlobe. "Chloe..." Beca whispered. "Chloe, what are we doing?"

"I can stop," Chloe said back, gentle in Beca's ear. "Whenever you want. Tell me to stop, and I promise - I promise I will."

Beca didn't tell her so, but rolled her head to one side to allow Chloe's kisses to creep further along the skin beside where her brown curls tumbled gently onto her shoulders.

"You're beautiful." Chloe said quietly, feeling the warmth of every syllable on Beca's skin. "Really. _So_ beautiful."

Beca smiled, and turned to place her lips on Chloe's. She could taste her own perfume on Chloe's mouth, and it made the deep of her stomach stir. She knew this was wrong, but it felt so, _so_ right. Beca let her hands wander, first feeling Chloe's jumper tentatively from the sides, then when she felt Chloe's body tense against her own she held a fistful of the top tight in her hands and pulled Chloe even closer in. She tugged gently on the hoody, and feeling no resistance from Chloe other than a throaty moan of approval embedded within the kiss, proceeded to pull it up, over her head, and off like her own. Beca felt a warmth spread to her stomach - and further - as she saw Chloe, leaning above her. Her hair fell in auburn tumbles, over her shoulders, framing her breasts at either side. The arms that were pinned at either side of Beca's head were tanned, and Beca saw that her smooth breasts, which were precociously close to her face were cupped by a delicate, floral bra. "Wow. Pink?" Beca smiled, and leant up to cup Chloe's face in her hand. "Really?"

Chloe smiled back, and let one of her hands slip down Beca's ribcage, and further round to Beca's back. "Really." She felt the stiff clasp of Beca's bra beneath her fingers, and concentrated on loosening the grip between its hooks.

"What are you-" Beca said, but Chloe planted a deep kiss onto her lips, and Beca could do nothing but embrace it. She felt Chloe's hand whisper delicately further round her torso, and Chloe's kiss slipped slowly from her mouth, trailing down the side of her neck and onto her shoulder blades. Chloe, having successfully unclipped the bra hooks, even with Beca on top of her hand, took one of the straps of the bra in her teeth and tugged gently. Beca groaned. She smiled, and leant across to repeat the gesture on the other shoulder. The bra slipped gently down, and Chloe, egged on by Beca's wandering hands on her own hips, pulled it away from Beca's chest.

"Oh. Wow." she whispered, and saw Beca blush.

"I-don't-I mean-" Beca said, and took her hands from Chloe's hips to place them over her face. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologise. I'll stop," Chloe whispered gently, leaning forward to take one breast in her mouth. She whispered again, blowing her warm breath over Beca's chest. "Whenever you want."

Beca did not remove her hands from her face for a second, but also did not refuse Chloe's mouth, warm and wet on her nipple. A deep, throaty moan of approval came from her, and Chloe smiled. One hand trailed gently up and down Beca's flat stomach, occasionally brushing against the unoccupied breast, whilst the other hand was hooked under the nape of Beca's neck, her fingers intertwining in Beca's hair. Chloe felt hands pulling her closer, and she gratefully accepted the offer, enjoying every second she allowed herself on Beca's skin. She soon felt the nub of Beca's nipple harden in her mouth, and moved onto the other breast, still rubbing the nipple of the first between her forefinger and thumb. Beca, suddenly feeling overwhelmed by desire, hooked her legs around Chloe's waist, and groaned her name. Chloe felt a warmth spread between her legs, and moved her kiss, fervently, back up to Beca's mouth. She was met with a deep lustful kiss; warm, wet, and desperate with desire. "Chloe." She felt whispered warm into her mouth. "Chloe, please..."

Obliging, but still slowly, Chloe hooked a thumb into the waistband of Beca's sweatpants. She planted further kisses, first one on Beca's hip, followed by a delicate string across her navel, to the other gentle jut of bone at the opposite side, and as she did so gently tugged the sweatpants from Beca's body. She tensed slightly, but still allowed Chloe to follow the sweatpants, sliding along her hips with further kisses. Chloe, nervous herself now, hovered above the elasticated band of Beca's underwear. They were not at all what Chloe had expected, instead, delicate slithers of floral net which matched the bra that now lay abandoned like the two jumpers, rested on Beca's skin. They were slighly see-through, and the prospect of the undiscovered skin that lay beneath made a fervent flush in Chloe's cheeks, and an undeniable warmth heighten further in Chloe's core.

She scraped her nails gently along either side of Beca's ribs, and felt her squirm beneath her hands, and mutter something, breathless and incoherant. She worked her way from Beca's breasts - the nipples on both were now brilliantly hard - and down, along Beca's stomach once more, with deep kisses, sucking hard against the skin, watching the flushed red marks appear one by one. She paused for a second above the hem of Beca's underwear, before blowing a gentle stream of warm air from between her lips and leaning down to take the bow which adorned the top of the pants between her teeth. She gave a little tug, to pull them further down, assisted by her hands which had now wandered from Beca's hips to her thighs - but just as she did so Beca leapt up, out of her hands, looking terrified. She shook her head.

"I'm so sorry." she whispered, and hugged her knees tightly into her chest. "I can't-I -I can't do this. I don't want to - I mean, I do- but-I'm sorry."

"That's okay," Chloe said, and smiled nervously. She felt awful all of a sudden - she knew this had been a bad idea. She leant down from the bed and passed Beca her jumper, which she gratefully pulled on, still mumbling apologies. "It's fine." Chloe said, and gently planted a kiss on Beca's nose. "Stop saying sorry."

"I feel like I've... I don't know..."

"You've done nothing." Chloe handed back Beca's half empty glass. "Here. "

Beca shook her head. "I've had enough for tonight. Can...Can I just do one more thing..." she mumbled, and looked away.

"Sure." Chloe said, with a gentle hand on Beca's thigh.

Beca swivelled on the bed, and tucked herself into the gap between the bedroom wall and Chloe. As if anticipating, Chloe shuffled further onto her bed, wrapping a blanket over the both of them. She smiled as Beca wrapped an arm around her waist. "Lets... lets just see." she said, and rested her chin on Chloe's shoulder. "I'm sorry." she muttered once again. Chloe smiled, and leant across to place a kiss on Beca's shoulder. She had never seen her so vulnerable.

"It's okay. Really."


	10. Chapter 10

Chloe woke suddenly, feeling the body beside her shivering. She opened her eyes slowly, trying hard to adjust to the dark of her bedroom. She realised the blanket was too small to cover the pair of them effectively, and as a result Beca had begun to shiver in her sleep. As far as she could tell she was still sleeping, but along with the slight teeth chatter and shiver, Beca was also mumbling to herself quietly. Chloe eased herself out from underneath Beca's arm that was still draped across her waist, and out of bed, smiling as Beca stirred at the movement beside her and muttered something incoherent once more. There was a gentle shaft of light from the streetlamp outside the dorm room that bled through the tiny gap in the curtains, down across Chloe's bedside cabinet, and over onto the bed where Beca lay. It bathed her cheeks in a gentle orangey glow. She looked even more beautiful as she slept, Chloe thought. Peaceful and still. She reached up on top of her wardrobe and pulled down a spare duvet that Aubrey kept for when she was sick. It was bigger and thicker than the one currently on her bed, so gently she unfolded it, and threw it over Beca. She stirred slightly, rolling to one side. A leg poked out surreptitiously from beneath the blanket, and Chloe's inside's stirred to see the expanse of smooth skin, that stretched from the curve of her bottom, covered only by the thin film of underwear, right the way down to the tip of her dark painted toenails. Chloe gently lifted Beca's head back onto the pillow from which it had slipped, and tucked a curl of hair behind her ear. In a sleepy state Beca reached up to clumsily push away Chloe's hand, and mutter something in disagreement. Her hand fell back to Chloe's thigh but her eyes didn't open. Chloe noticed her shivering had stopped, and she smiled, sliding back into the bed beside her friend.

"Goodnight," she whispered, and placed a soft kiss on Beca's forehead. Beca's hands reached out and pulled Chloe close, leaving her head nuzzled into her chest. Chloe smiled, adjusted herself so her eyeline wasn't quite so full of boob, and settled back to sleep into Beca's warm embrace.

* * *

Beca stirred. Her eyes felt heavy and her mouth woolly. She was also very aware that there was an unnatural weight about her legs. She opened her eyes and for a second was unsure of her wherabouts. Then it begun to come back to her. She realised the unnatural heavy feeling in her legs was nothing to do with the hangover that was creeping in, but instead the weight of Chloe's bare legs that were wrapped around her. She tensed as she realised that Chloe was nuzzled in close to Beca's chest, with her leg draped around her hip and a hand resting on her waist. Beca tensed. Her back was against the cold bedroom wall. There was no way to escape. She didn't particularly want to, but she felt she had to; she couldn't be caught by anyone here. This wasn't right - this wasn't what was supposed to happen. She didn't want to mess things up.

Chloe stirred in her sleep, and her grip on Beca's waist loosened. The blanket that was draped over her also slid down her chest a little, and Beca clamped a hand to her mouth to repress her gasp as she saw Chloe's elongated neckline, framed by her auburn hair, tumbling down onto her shoulders - her bare shoulders - and resting just on the curves of her breasts. "_Shit_." she whispered, and sat up. Chloe stirred once more, but did not wake, and for that Beca was extremely grateful. She slowly slid towards the foot of the bed, folding the duvet she had been covered in over Chloe's bare skin. She wanted to stay - more than anything in the world - but she couldn't. She shouldn't. She had probably already messed things up more than were repairable in getting drunk and thinking that making that kind of a pass at Chloe was a good idea. Beca closed her eyes for a second and sighed, perched at the end of the bed. She put her head in her hands and rubbed her thumbs over her temples. She had hoped it would help but once again all she could see was Chloe, advancing towards her, planting her lips on her own, lifting her shift from her head, taking - taking things in her mouth- _Oh God, Beca, what have you done,_ she thought, _you've made a good and proper mess of things this time..._

Chloe murmoured behind her, and she jumped up, quickly realising she had to leave before she awoke properly. She picked up her pile of clothes - still damp from the run home last night in the snowstorm - then turned to the abandoned sweatpants she had borrowed from Chloe and quickly shoved them on, trying to keep as quiet as possible. She dressed quickly, and bundled all of her clothes into her arms before trying carefully to twist open the lock of the dormitary door. She opened it as thinly as she dare, glancing over to the bundle of ginger hair which peeped out from underneath the duvet at the end of the bed furthest away from her. She sighed, bit her lip to prevent the tears arriving which prickled her eyes and threatened to come, then crept out into the corridor, shutting the door with a gentle click behind her.

"Beca?"

She heard a voice calling her name from down the corridor, and she jumped, looking up in surprise.

A farmiliar face peered at her, brow furrowed.

_Great_, Beca thought, _this is not what I need._


	11. Chapter 11

"Oh. Aubrey. Hey."

Aubrey stood and watched Beca from the stairwell door for a second, sucking slightly on the backs of her teeth. She made no attempt to hide her displeasure at coming face to face with the insolent freshman - who happened to be liked so very much by her best friend. Aubrey advanced towards Beca, feeling the resentment bubble in her gut.

"What are you doing?" she snarled, feeling the irritation at Beca slide off her tongue with every syllable. As Chloe's best friend Aubrey held a moral obligation to mute her distaste towards Beca whenever Chloe was around, but as this time she was nowhere to be seen, Aubrey felt no desire to hold back. The Bella's were hers, success would be hers - and an inexperienced freshman with an attitude that stunk so hard it bit at the back of Aubreys throat was not going to stand in her way.

"I was just leaving." Beca said, and tried to turn away from Aubrey. Instead Aubrey reached out an aggressive arm across her chest and stopped her in her tracks.

"All right," she spat. "We can play this game. What _were_ you doing? In _my_ room." She glanced at the bundle of clothes in Beca's arms. _Beca's wearing Chloe's gym sweats, _she noted, and her eyes narrowed. Beca saw this, and brushed simply past Aubrey's extended limb without a second glance.

"It's Chloe's room too." Beca said as she walked away. Aubrey spun on her heels, her fists balled angrily at her side. Before she had a chance to exhume her anger in vicious insults, Beca paused, one hand on the stairwell door, and turned back to face her,

"Aubrey, I know -"

"You don't know anything!" Aubrey fumed, unable to hold back. Beca raised one eyebrow, with an unsympathetic smile creeping into the corners of her tight-lipped mouth. This only infuriated Aubrey more. Her breathing became heavy, and she tried everything she could not to lash out.

"I know you don't like me," Beca said matter-of-factly before Aubrey even had a chance to move. "But what I do in my spare time is absolutely none of your business. In fact, I think I've told you that before." she turned back to the door, about to leave. Before she could, Aubrey blurted,

"Why were you in my room?" she felt her shoulders tense, and anger bubbled in the deep of her stomach like bile.

"Why do you care?" Beca asked, sounded exasperated.

"I know what your _type_ is like." snarled Aubrey, folding her arms.

"My _type?"_ Beca turned back to face Aubrey, who felt pleased at having instilled some kind of anger into Beca too.

"Don't play games with me." Aubrey growled, her eyes narrow. "Chloe might not be able to see it, but I sure as hell can. Now get out of my sight before I call campus police. You're not supposed to be here."

"See you at rehearsals then." Beca said, turning away from Aubrey, who huffed at the sound of Beca slamming the door. She chewed the inside of her mouth, holding back any temptation she might have had to scream profanities in Beca's direction. She angrily fumbled with her key before flinging the dormitory door open, and throwing her back down. The mess of auburn hair stirred sleepily at the noise.

"Wharraydoin'?" Aubrey heard, muffled from beneath her thick sick-day duvet which was sprawled across Chloe's bed. Thankfully her own bed was as neat as she had left it yesterday morning. Otherwise, she thought, had Beca slept in there there would have been even more hell to pay.

"Beca, is that you?" Chloe said, bleary eyes peering out from the bundle of quilt.

"Wake up." Aubrey said, unapologetic.

"Oh, it's you." Chloe flopped back to her bed.

"Why was Beca here?" Aubrey continued, perching on the edge of her own bed.

"Where's she gone?" Chloe yawned. Her stretch, however, was cut short and turned into a groan as Aubrey pulled apart the curtains.

"Never mind where she's gone - I was hoping you'd have an explanation of what happened last night? Last I'd heard there was nothing going on between you - and now I find her sneaking out of your room - dressed in your clothes - you, well-" Aubrey stood up and pulled the duvet from Chloe's bed "You're hardly in the best-_oh god!" _Aubrey dropped the quilt back over her friend, heat rising in her cheeks as she noticed how little clothing she had on.

Chloe haughtily rolled over, pulling herself out of her hungover fetal position into a sat-up-scrunched-up-ball, knees tucked tightly under her chin, hair messy around her face, and the duvet tucked snugly around her. "Thanks for that," she said, pouting. "What happened to Beca, again?"

Aubrey rolled her eyes. "She was leaving as I came home - I got snowed out last night."

"We got snowed in," said Chloe, and blushed before she even realised what she said. Beca's naked torso swam into her mind, and she avoided Aubrey's glare.

"Evidently." she heard her say stoutly. Chloe looked up to see Aubrey, eyes narrowed, and her arms folded in such a malevolent manner she found herself unable to feel anything but guilt.

"Nothing happened!" she said, only half lying.

Aubrey exhaled deeply from her nose, before pouncing; she could hold back her feelings on the matter no more.

"What you get up to in your - _private - _time is none of my business," she snarled, "_unless_ I see the prospect of you getting hurt. Which I do."

"_What_? I'm - Beca's - I'm not going to get hurt-" Chloe tried to interject, but Aubrey continued furiously.

"_Chloe will you listen!_" she spat, and Chloe flinched. "I have supported you all the way through this - this _phase_ of yours that you seem to be so fixated on-"

"It's not a phase!"

"-I had to lie to your dad when he asked me about it, I held your hair back when you cried so bad it made you sick - I even had to _cancel rehearsals_ to make sure you were okay. I am _not_ going to let all of this hard work I have put in be ruined by you getting hurt by some stupid girl!"

Chloe watched Aubrey fume, and blinked back the tears. Her voice came to her eventually, tiny at first.

"Aubrey. How can you... Beca's not just some stupid girl I know." Aubrey let out an exasperated sigh.

"Then why isn't she here? Why am I picking up the mess she's left behind?"

"Thanks very much, Bree. How can you make this about yourself? I don't understand what you're say-"

"I just thought you'd have more sense - after everything you've struggled with - every time you've come to me and asked if I'd still be here when every one else had left - I thought you might have the sense _not_ to pick another fuck-and-chuck."

Chloe's mouth widened unexpectedly. She couldn't believe what she was hearing - and from her best friend too. She glared for a second, and then climbed from her bed - not caring she was dressed so scantily - and stood a mere few inches from Aubrey's face.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she snarled, her voice feral and low through gritted teeth.

"You know exactly what I mean." Aubrey replied, her voice sharp on her tongue.

"You have _no_ right-"

"I have _every_ right!" Aubrey snapped "Chloe - don't you see? You've made such a name for yourself that even freshman girls don't give a dam about you anymore!"

"You bitch." Chloe spat, her voice loud. She didn't care who heard - she felt no remorse for the hatred she felt in her chest for Aubrey. "I can't believe you are turning this on me. Last night you said I should go for it - changed your mind now have you? Just because you don't like-"

"Maybe I lied last night! Maybe I'm sick of you having to fall back on me when people leave."

"Maybe I'm sick of having to juggle all of your overbearing dick-like insults - always dragging me down - and all the Bella's - you're exactly what we said we wouldn't become after last year- you're just conveniently forgetting about all the times I've had to be there for you-"

Aubrey said nothing. She stared at Chloe, staring deep into the raging blue eyes that glared back. She, for once in her life, couldn't find the words to fight back. She had no way to express how she felt-

"I knew it." Chloe said, quieter. Aubrey could hear the malice in her voice. "And you knew it too - you just couldn't _stand_ someone else being the centre of attention for a change. And that's what Beca is to you, isn't she?"

"That is _not_ true!"

"Don't patronise me, Aubrey. Not any more!" Chloe shouted, and angry tears spilled down her cheeks. "I just wanted you to be happy that I'd finally found someone to be with, someone that isn't going to mess me around-"

"Beca's not that person-"

"You said-"

"I know what I said - and I've changed my mind-"

"You can't do that!" Chloe said, and her foot stamped beside her unexpectedly. More hot tears flowed from her eyes, but she did nothing to wipe them away. For the first time she felt liberated to stand up for what she beleived in, stand tall against Aubrey's demeaning glare. She wasn't going to be treated like this anymore.

"She is a nightmare waiting to happen." Aubrey breathed. "Look at what she has done to you."

"This is not Beca!" Yelled Chloe, and the fury in her voice made Aubrey falter. She stepped back, stumbling on her bed. "This is you Aubrey - you've done this to me!"

"How dare you-"

"Aubrey, don't you see? It's never going to work between me and Beca if you keep putting your ego in the way."

Aubrey shook her head slightly. Her voice had faltered. "You're making a big mistake." There was no more reasoning to be done, she thought, and turned away from Chloe.

"Where are you going?" Chloe said, cocking her head to one side as Aubrey made for the door. "Bree, don't - we can fix this-"

Aubrey paused, one hand on the door knob. She turned back to face Chloe. Her arms were crossed across her body, as though vulnerable all of a sudden. Not wanting to show her how much pain this caused her, Aubrey turned back and opened the door.

"Bree -don't-"

"Chloe, you've made a choice-"

"I haven't chosen anything!" Chloe pleaded, but the door shut before she could reach it. There was no response from Aubrey on the other side, who blinked back her own tears briefly before strutting away down the corridor. "You're being ridiculous..." Chloe tried to shout, but her voice resembled nothing more than a frustrated sob beyond the first word.

Aubrey had these moments of madness, Chloe recalled, but this time it felt different. It felt like something between them had broken, snipped in two by Aubrey's billigerant words. Chloe had never intended on having to make an ultimatum between the pair - but if she _had _to - no, she couldn't chose. Not yet, not after everything Aubrey had just said. She would shower, calm down - sort her head out - let Aubrey clear her own, talk to Beca. _Beca_. Her thoughts faltered as she formulated a list in her mind, and came to the thought of Beca. She desperately needed to talk to her too, she thought.

As though exhausted by the weight of it all she flopped onto her bed, putting her head into her palms. Aubrey was right in one sense - Beca _had_ left without any word of warning, but this time it felt different. She would normally say to Aubrey that she wanted them back, but after a drink or two and the passing of some time in which she could think about how much of an ass they really were, she would get over it and concentrate on putting in a better performance for the Bella's at the next rehearsal. The guys were just a relaxing distraction from the strict regime that Aubrey laid down - but the next day she felt liberated to pull her weight at practise again, content she had relaxed enough and could get back on track. This time though she wanted Beca to be the one she went back to practise with. She wanted Beca to be the one she walked through the auditorium doors, holding hands with, and her and she wouldn't need to look to Aubrey for a comforting word or two when things went wrong. Because they wouldn't. She was going to fight to bring her back. This time was different. She angrily wiped tears from her tired eyes, and muttered,

"Damn it Mitchell, what are you _doing_ to me?"


	12. Chapter 12

Beca wasn't a runner.

She could barely remember a time after the age of ten when she had felt any desire whatsoever to run anywhere at all.

And yet - here she was - crashing through the snow, her clothes bundled close to her chest and her hair flyaway, tangled into an incredible mess. By the time she'd reached Baker Hall she felt - and looked - a little like she was about to go into cardiac arrest. Thankfully her roommate was out. Beca ripped off her clothes - _Chloe's clothes_, she was reminded with a painful waft of her perfume as the jumper flew off over her head - and then climbed into bed. Everywhere was silent apart from her heavy breathing and the pounding of her heart, thick and loud in her ears. Her head throbbed. She didn't know who she was more angry with, herself or Aubrey. She couldn't believe what had happened - last night _and _this morning - and yet the more she thought about it the more she imagined Chloe's gentle touch on her skin; the way her lips had felt on her own lips, her stomach and her hips - and there was nothing she could do to shake the warmth that radiated in her lower body. there was nothing she could tell herself to dissuade the electrifying pulse that shot through her bones as she thought about the way that chloe had laid beside her asleep. There was no denying it - any of it - and yet she found herself fighting so hard to do so. She fought so hard it hurt, so hard she had to let the pain and confusion she felt break from her body in a throaty sob, thick with emotion. She blinked and tears tumbled down her cheeks onto her bedsheet.

"I'm so sorry..." she croaked to nobody in particular, and yet deep down inside she wanted somebody - anybody - to hear her and tell her it would be all right. The tears came in a furious mixture of hatred towards Aubrey, frustration that she had let somebody get to her so much she had to cry, and undeniable respect and attraction (which she could barely admit to herself) that she felt for Chloe. All of this left her alone, in her bed, laying still and silent whilst the tears rolled from her eyes.

Eventually she fell into a deep sleep, still troubled by her thoughts, but her dreams providing a silent blanket of escape for just a little while. By the time she awoke her face felt sticky, her eyes sore, and her mouth dry. She was hot and uncomfortable, cramped into a ball underneath the quilt. She pushed it from herself, and blinking the sleep from her eyes, realised the dorm room was now bathed in a dull glow from the street lamp outside, and darkening quickly as the wintery evening fell. she had slept all day, she realised, and then began to panic - she was supposed to be back at the radio station, shadowing Luke's evening set. As she moved to get dressed she caught her reflection in the mirror on the back of the wardrobe. her eyes were red and swollen, and her cheeks were blotchy. She was already late, and so by the time she'd fixed her face she would be even more so. She tummaged in the bundle of clothes she'd brought back from Chloe's and pulled out her phone. With a pang to her stomach she ignored the new messages that sat unread on her homescreen (most of which, she noticed, were from Chloe) and proceeded to scroll through her contacts to Luke's name.

_"Hey,"_ she typed out. "_Really sorry - can't make it in tonight - pretty sick. Will be back next week. Beca."_

She didn't feel even in the slightest bit guilty for pulling a sicky, she had things to sort out before she went back to work to face Luke and Jesse. Jesse really was the last thing she needed to see tonight, she thought.


	13. Chapter 13

Beca made it back to her dorm room (wrapped tightly in a thick black dressing gown and towel-turban ensemble) just as her cell phone stopped ringing. She picked it up; two calls from both Chloe and Jesse. She punched out a quick text to the latter (_I'm off work sick; what do you want?_) then - biting her lip anxiously - redialled Chloe's number.

"Hello?"

"Hey, sorry, I um, I was in the shower when you called..." she said her voice trailing off as anxiety got the better of the deep of her stomach.

"All day?"

"What?" Beca perched on the edge of her bed and tried to unwrap the towel with one hand, the other keeping the phone pressed firmly to her ear.

"Nothing-" she heard Chloe say. "I just... I tried to call. After you left, Aubrey came back, said she'd seen you running away and then we- I mean, w-are you alright? Why did you... go?" Chloe's voice finished quiet and small and Beca felt riddled with guilt.

"Sorry. About that." Beca said, but Chloe stayed quiet. "I didn't, I mean, I shouldn't have - we probably shouldn't have -"

"Oh."

"No- that's not what I mean-"

"That's okay."

"Chloe- wait, please - It's really not what I meant -" Beca stopped, suddenly searching for words. What did she mean? She knew it was a breach of their friendship, and that it was dangerous and wrong - but god, hadn't it felt really, _really_ right? Hadn't he been feeling like she'd been stopping herself, telling herself time and time again that this _wasn't_ what Chloe wanted - and now she did and Beca was turning her away?

"You're probably right." Chloe's voice came weak in Beca's ear.

"W-what do you mean?"

"I was stupid to think you'd want anything like this."

Beca thumbed her temple with her free hand. "No, Chloe, I... I do. I do want this. It's just..."

"Beca, I'm out on a limb here, you're gonna have to start... I don't..." Chloe's voice trailed away once again. _Take control, _Beca thought, _take control for once in your life._

"I'm scared." she said suddenly, finding herself on her feet. "I'm really _really _scared."

She had never admitted fear to anyone - about anything. "I'm scared, but it's in a good way. I've never had like, a girl friend. Not even a 'girlfriend' - just a friend who was a girl. You're different - like me - and I like that about you. I push everybody away - maybe now's the time I stop..."

"It will be alright you know." Chloe said after a moment, and Beca felt the tension in her voice ease.

"I know."

"You're like... I don't know. We're like two things that don't go together, but they do, and that's alright."

"I don't really know what you mean..." Beca said, smiling a little, despite her eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

"Okay, you're like an old sweater." Chloe said confidently.

"What?!"

"Alright, that sounds worse than I meant it to. What I really mean - I guess I'm trying to say -" Chloe took a deep breath. "Beca, I'm scared too - but I'm also so comfortable around you, I want.. I want to be with you, you're my comfy sweater that I feel like I've had in my closet for years & when I put you on I just want to hold onto all those little threads that poke out from the sleeves and the hems and the arms, and I want to wrap them around my fingers; that's what I like about you. Everyone else wants a brand new sweater; I just want you."


	14. Chapter 14

There was very little Chloe could have said to Beca after that which would have meant more to her than what she had just heard.

_"Everyone else wants a brand new sweater; I just want you."_

It was like Chloe understood, and for that she was grateful.

"Thank you." Beca said, after a moment of silence in which she tried to control the smile on her face, and the blush in her cheeks, and the electricity which ran through her body.

"For what?" Chloe giggled back.

"Just for being honest."

"That's okay." Chloe said sweetly. "I mean, I didn't - you said - well, _Aubrey _said, to be fair - but you agreed - and then I didn't think you were, I didn't think_ I _was - but I suppose I am - and then you kissed -"

"Chloe! Stop!" Beca laughed. "I've never had a girlfriend. You know that now."

"Yes. That is precisely what I was trying to say. Thank you." Beca heard the smile on Chloe's face. "We're not very good at this are we?" she chuckled.

"Nope." Beca said, and flopped back onto her bed, still only wrapped in her towel and her hair in a damp tangle around her shoulders. "So... We're... we're all okay, then?"

"Yep." Chloe agreed. "We're great. We'll just take things as they go. No pressure."

"No pressure." Beca agreed, smiling to herself. "Oh - and less liquor!" she added as an afterthought.

"Yeah, sorry about that. That stuff is rough sometimes..." Chloe smiled, and lay back in her bed in a similar position to that of Beca's, the pair mirrored but separated by a few miles of snow and quadrangles and chattering college students she could just hear through her window who crossed campus on their way home. To Chloe though there was nobody else in the world in that moment. No walls, no snow - no Aubrey. She understood Beca's desire to be patient, to take things slow - after all, had it not been her who had been looking for Aubrey's shoulder to lean on, confused about everything that was going on, asking her to lie to people until she had her head straight again? None of that mattered anymore, and just for now, things were alright.

"Anyway," Chloe said, realising she'd been silently invested in her thoughts for a little while longer than was natural, "We still have this dress to buy!"

"Ah shit." she heard Beca say and giggled.

"Oh come on, it'll be fun."

"Like, gynecologist fun?"

"Shut up. You'll enjoy it. I'll come round tomorrow morning - be ready early!"

"Fine." Beca said, and rolled her eyes with a smile as she heard Chloe's sweet goodbye's and the click of the shutting phone in her ear. Beca was glad that Chloe understood her need for patience. She just needed to convince herself that Chloe wouldn't leave or wouldn't hurt her and she could work on letting her into her funny little life.

Beca climbed into bed and pulled her laptop from her desk down onto her knees, ignoring another text from Jesse that had flagged up whilst she'd been in the call. He wasn't going to ruin her little moment of self understanding she thought, pulling her headphones on and loading up the mixing programme onto the laptop screen. It was what she did when she needed relief from her thoughts, and within minutes she was away, enveloped into a world of thick and heavy baselines and rolling vocals that licked at her ears.

It was whilst she was in this cocoon of noise she failed to notice the knock at her door - which in all fairness sounded quietly at first - but soon, having been ignored for a few minutes, turned to a loud bang.

"Beca - answer the door!" a voice called out, and Beca, hearing something other than what was in the cans of her headphones, glanced up, muting the laptop with one tap of the keyboard. She pulled off her headphones just as another fistful of bangs punctured the air.

"Jesus wept," Beca yelped, hopping off her bed and throwing on her sweatpants and a hoody. "Give me a minute!"

She pulled the door open, and there, holding two steaming mugs and glaring with one raised eyebrow, was Jesse.

"What do you want?" She asked, pulling her hair out from the neck of her sweatshirt.

"Nice to see you too." He said, brushing past. "Mind if I..."

"Looks like you already have." Beca muttered, folded her arms and watching Jesse settle at her desk. "What do you want?" she asked again.

"I brought you soup." he said, and held one out to her, having made himself comfortable on her swivel chair facing her laptop. "You said you were sick so I brought you soup. Here." He held it out again, then pointed at the laptop screen with one free hand. "What's this?"

She walked over to him, having kicked the dorm room door shut with her heel, then reached across and flipped the lid of the laptop shut. "Mine, is what that is. And I'm not really sick." she added dejectedly, taking the cup from his still outstretched hand.

"_Really_?" he asked, and she scowled at his sarcastic tone.

"Yes, really." she said, hopping back onto her bed and crossing her legs beneath her. "But if you tell Jesse I swear to god I will _kill_ you."

She was annoyed at his persistence, but damn the soup smelt good. He motioned zipping an invisible zipper shut across his lips.

"Cutting two shifts in two days. That's impressive." he smiled.

"Shut up."

"You sure you're not sick?" He asked, before taking a sip of his own steaming soup.

"Yes, why?" Beca snapped, sensing that Jesse was about to either insult or make an innappropriate pass at her - both of which she had no patience for.

"No - I just - " he waved a finger up and down in front of her. "Nice sweatpants."

"You don't half know how to make yourself at home, do you? Waltz in, hand a girl soup, then insult her. Charming." Beca said, looking into her cup.

"You're hardly the gracious host."

"I wasn't hosting - you just walked in."

"Besides," Jesse said, and turned to fiddle with some of the switches on the mixing board on Beca's desk. "The ladies love me."

"You're sure about that?" Beca smirked.

"Yup." Jesse nodded. "You love me."

Beca laughed, out of pity more than anything. "You're ridiculous."

"Nope." Jesse said, and then lifted the lid again on Beca's laptop. "What were you doing on here anyway?"

"Jesse, that's mine-"

"I only wanted to see!" he said, and reached out to stop Beca's hand, grabbing it before she had a chance to shut the computer off again. "Were you mixing?"

Beca folded her arms, but Jesse just looked up at her with expectant eyes. "Yes. I was mixing." she said, rolling her own eyes.

"I didn't know you were into that." he said, looking back at the screen as the software loaded back into view.

"What, you thought my main musical ambition in life was to be an expert shelf stacker? Good work." Beca said, and pushed his hand from the mouse, hitting save before he had a chance to 'accidentally' delete anything.

"Show me." he said, and looked up at her again. "Show me how you do it."

Beca sighed, looking away from him, but he kept watching her, smiling - knowing he had won.

"Then you leave." she said stoutly.

"Deal."

She leant across him and pulled up a blank track. He scooched sideways in the chair and grinned at her as if to suggest she should sit, but she only glared condescendingly and turned back to the screen.

"Ouch. Cold." he said.

"Do you want to see this or not?" she snapped, and he put a finger to his mouth.

"Right, basically all I do - in the simplest terms - is pull in a baseline over here -" she indicated with her finger then dropped a track onto one side of the screen with the mouse "- then pull in the top end of the track - or the lead - over here-" she said, dragging another to the opposite side of the screen. "Then we put vocals on - which are usually mine -but we don't need to hear those-"

"Yeah we do!" Jesse said, and pushed Beca's hand from the mouse. He somehow managed to grip both of her wrists - which struggled fiercely - into one of his own hands, as the other scrolled through the files on the computer. "Where are they?"

"Jesse- we're not- get off!" she said, and pulled away with a final tug. "You're a pain, you know that right?"

"Play them," he said, with another begging look. She shook her head defiantly. Jesse though had noticed a file on the screen titled 'vocals' and with two swift taps of the keyboard had managed to load in one of her tracks.

"You're a dick!" she yelled as her voice came through the headphones which lay abandoned on the floor. The pair of them reached to grab them, Jesse leaning off his seat and Beca scrambling from her perch on her bed, but both of their fighting hands bumped together and knocked the headphones out of reach. Jesse reached out to steady himself, grabbing Beca quite forcefully, and the strength in his arms managed to pull them both to the floor beside her bed. His arms were still pressed to her shoulders as they hit the floor with a thump, he managing to straddle her and pin her down to the floor.

"That wasn't fair," he said quietly. Their faces were close, but the wind had been knocked out of Beca quite hard and she grimaced, finding herself unable to push his strong frame off. She struggled for a second and then lay there.

"You weren't listening to me sing." she said. "Now get off."

"The Bella's get to hear you sing." he said, but stayed where he was.

"Jesse get off, you're hurting me." she said, and tried to look away from him. His face was close, and she couldn't help but glance up into his eyes, watching her intently. She took a deep breath, trying to regain composure. His body was warm and heavy pressed to hers; so different to that of Chloe's.

"Jesse..." she said quietly.

Instead of moving upwards though, he shifted his head down, slowly at first, but quick enough that it caught Beca unawares. He pressed his lips to hers, his breath heavy and warm on her face. With a flick of his tongue he tried to prise open her mouth, but it was then she realised what was happening, and squirmed, pulling her head away.

"No!" she yelled, wriggling under his grip. "Jesse, get off _now!"_

He slackened his grip on her wrists and pulled back his head, but did not move entirely from his position straddling her.

"I thought this was what you wanted?" he asked.

"When the hell did I say that? Get off, or I swear to god I will kick you where it hurts."

He laughed, then pushed himself up off the ground. "I guess I was mistaken."

"Damn right you were mistaken!" Beca shouted, flinging herself up from the ground. "What the hell do you think you were doing?"

"You just fell at my feet, what did you think I was going to do?"

"Er, not pin me down and be weird and try and kiss me would have been a good start?" Beca snapped, flinging the door open. "Get out!"

"Are you serious?" He asked, genuinely looking concerned. "Maybe you banged your-"

"Jesse, get out!"

"I was only trying to help." he said softly, and looked away from her.

"I don't-" her voice faltered and her gaze dropped to the floor as he walked towards her; she didn't even have the ability to stay angry for long. "I don't need your help." she said quietly, looking back up. He was back close again now, but this time his face looked genuinely hurt. "I'm sorry." she said. "I just don't... I don't need you to do that for me."

He sighed, and walked past, lingering in front of her for longer than she was comfortable with.

"I'll go then." he said, standing in the corridor. Beca turned to face him, but before she allowed herself - or him for that matter - the chance to say anything else, she nodded and pushed the door firmly shut, before turning and flopping against it. She closed her eyes and pressed her cool hands to her forehead.

"What is it with some people!" she muttered, and fell back to her bed, where her voice still came soft and quietly from her headphones, intertwined with Jesse's primeval mix as if to tease her in the most inappropriate of ways.


	15. Chapter 15

Chloe rapped her cold knuckles hard on the door to Beca's dormitory. It opened sharply.

"Hey-oh!" Chloe beamed as it swung open, until she realised it was not Beca standing on the otherside of the door, but instead a sour-faced Kimmy Jin. "Hi." Chloe said, smiling meekly. "Is, um, is Beca in?"

Kimmy Jin narrowed her eyes and then turned away, saying nothing as she sat down at her desk.

"All right then." Chloe muttered, stepping over the threshold. Beca was rummaging in her wardrobe, back towards Chloe, with her big black headphones on her head. Her hands were reaching up to the top shelf, allowing a thin band of skin to peep out beneath the hem of Beca's shirt at her hips. Chloe found herself biting her lip, resisting hard the temptation to reach out herself and pull Beca in close to her by the band of pale bare skin, realising she longed to feel her again under her touch.

Instead though she reached out and tapped her on the shoulder. Beca jumped and spun around.

"What th- oh, Chloe - my god, give me a minute - I'm not ready yet. " Beca said, pulling her headphones off. Chloe smiled at her as she noticed a hum of a blush radiating high on her cheekbones.

"That's alright, I'm early anyway." Chloe said and took a seat at Beca's desk. "What's this for?" she asked, pushing a few of the dials up and down on the mixing desk in front of her.

"They," Beca said, swooping over to close the lid of the laptop and reset the dials "Are for my music."

"Can I hear some?" Chloe asked, looking up and smiling expectantly at Beca, who just rolled her eyes as she pulled on her coat.

"Jeez, seriously? Everyone round here is nosy!"

Chloe smiled and stood up, following her to the door. "What do you mean?"  
Beca smiled, holding the door open, but Chloe noticed the awkwardness in it as it crept across her face, her lips pursed and her eyes avoiding her gaze. "What?" Chloe repeated, stepping backwards out into the corridor.

"It's nothing." Beca said, shutting the door behind her. "Come on."

"No, go on!" Chloe smiled playfully. "What's going on? Is Kimmy Jin giving you grief?"

"Far from it." Beca grimaced, holding the door open to the Baker Hall quadrangle. Whilst the temperature had crept up slowly over night, everywhere was still covered in a blanket of crisp snow, and as they left the halls their breath plumed ahead of them in clouds.

"Go on, tell me!" Chloe elbowed Beca playfully in the ribs as they walked side by side through campus.

"Which hotshot producer has their eye on you and your music, but you just won't hand it over because you know how much it will affect your beloved studies and the Barden Bella's if you dared to do such a thing." Beca rolled her eyes, but Chloe just grinned back. "Why won't you tell me?"

"Fine, jeez, it was Jesse.

"What?!" Chloe stopped dead in her tracks.

"I know," Beca said, turning to face her as she carried on walking backwards. "He got all weird and demanded I teach him how I mix my music up. He's..." Beca paused, standing still to think whilst Chloe caught up. Now probably wasn't the best time to tell her what he had done. "He's just weird."

"I thought that the other day," Chloe said, shivering. "He's an odd one."

Beca laughed. "We should hook him up with Aubrey. She's an odd one too." Her face quickly dropped though as she noticed the glare Chloe had thrown her. "What? It's true!"

"Hmm," Chloe said quietly. "He's a Treble though. You know what she's like. And we did take an oath."

"It'd do her good to stop being so uptight for once." Beca said. Chloe sighed, and Beca turned to look at her, her sad face and eyes painful. "Chlo', what's wrong?"

"It's nothing." She said, shaking her head, but Beca narrowed her eyes. "Alright - me and Aubrey, we haven't - I mean, we've had this - this argument - thing. Oh, and Beca, it's so ridiculous, but she hasn't spoken to me since." Her voice trailed off, and Beca's brow furrowed.

"What happened?"

The concern in Chloe's face - no matter how hard she had tried to hide it - was evident. Chloe shrugged. "It was something stupid."

"And you've tried to speak to her?"

Chloe nodded.

Beca paused, then looked at her shoes shifting in the snow.

"Will it help if I know what it is you argued about?" she said.

Chloe looked around, at the quadrangle - some kids dancing in a circle in the distance - and there was a lecturer in a huff, flinging his briefcase around trying to fight his way through the snow. She looked anywhere but at Beca, but eventually realised she was standing ten yards or so in front of her, her arms folded. She already knew what they had argued about, and Chloe felt wracked with guilt - she should never have opened her mouth. Today wasn't supposed to be about Aubrey.

Beca pursed her lips, then shrugged. Chloe's awkward silence had confirmed her thoughts. She was mad - very much so - but she wasn't going to let it show.

"I told you, it was stupid," Chloe said, reaching out to take Beca's hands in her own. "Aubrey was being ridiculous. It doesn't mean anything."

"What did she say?"

"Nothing." Chloe smiled and tried to reach down and plant a gentle kiss on Beca's nose. Instead, Beca stepped away. "Beca-"

"If you want me to help you get back in her good books you're gonna have to tell me what she said." Beca sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"I know she doesn't like me - she doesn't approve of whatever this is, but she's your best friend, and I don't want to come between that." She looked up and rolled her eyes. "Bella's is stressful enough as it is."

Chloe simply glowed. She had expected Beca to be angry - perhaps even upset - but that she was genuinely wanting to help touched Chloe, and she could do nothing more than blush and smile warmly.

"You don't have to do anything - it's not your problem - it's hers. And you're never gonna be that person, please don't think that. If anything, Aubrey was more of a bitch about me than you," Chloe said, recalling Aubrey's sharp tongue with a grimace.

"You'll sort it out," Beca said. "Come on, there's a cab over there - lets get out of this snow."

Chloe smiled again as she felt that all-too-familiar flutter in her stomach as she felt Beca's cold fingers intertwine with her own and pull her towards the yellow cab that had just pulled up down the road.


	16. Chapter 16

They spoke of Aubrey no more that day, instead, both girls simply enjoying the pleasure that the others company brought. They had each tried numerous dresses on - neither satisfied with the length of one, or the colour of another - until they found themselves in a tiny vintage boutique tucked down an old alley off the high street. It was a long, narrow shop, with a helpful old cashier with a wrinkled face, who, as soon as they entered the store, grabbed and handed them each a bundle of dresses in a flurry of lace, silk and taffeta.

"Take as long as you need dears, the changing rooms are at that end. And if you need anything else you'll have to come find me, I'll be down this end of the shop - shout loud, I'm a bit deaf of hearing my lovelies." the lady beamed a toothless grin and pointed them to a row of changing rooms at the far end of the shop.

"This place is incredible," Chloe muttered as she locked the changing room door behind her and hung the dresses up she'd been handed. Each changing cubicle was an individual room, cut off from one another, and decorated beautifully Chloe noted. She ran her finger along the cream filigree border that ran the width of the room, punctured only by a floor length mirror with a gold-brushed gilted frame and white fairy lights hanging loosely around the top.

"Chlo'?" Beca called from the adjacent room, her voice muffled through the wall. "Can you come get this?"

"One minute," Chloe called back, shrugging her coat off and kicking her boots underneath the chair in the corner of the room. She unlocked the door, then pulled it shut gently behind her and padded over to the only other shut door, right in the far corner. She tapped on the door. "Bex?" she called, and heard the lock slide, and then click open. Chloe pushed on the door gently.

Standing in the middle of the room, facing the mirror, was Beca, and almost instantly Chloe was transfixed. The way her hair fell onto her bare shoulders, the way she gently glowed in the gentle light of the room, and the vast v-shaped expanse of her skin between the two folds of unzipped dress had Chloe mesmerised. She drew her breath in sharp to her chest, feeling lost all of a sudden.

"My god Beca..." she muttered.

"What's wrong?" she said, turning quickly. "It's too much, right? I mean-"  
Chloe smiled. "It's really not. You look... incredible." Beca had chosen a teal number, and it fit her absolutely perfect. Chloe blinked. "Really. Wow."

"Will you shut up!" Beca laughed, but her cheeks flushed. "You're gawping. Fasten me up." she turned back to the mirror and scooped her hair to one side to avoid it being caught in the zip. Chloe reached for where the zipper sat in the gentle dip of the small of Beca's back. The expanse of bare skin reached from the bottom of her back where Chloe could just see the waistband of Beca's black lace underwear (and it made her stomach dance) - and stretched right the way up to her shoulders, and her neck, the open dress framing the bare v-shaped expanse of pale skin beautifully.

Chloe hesitated on the zip, her fingers trembling. Slowly she pulled it closed, regrettably watching Beca's snow-white back disappear beneath the fabric of the dress.

"It looks great." she said, stepping back and trying to grasp control of her senses as calmly as she could. Beca blushed, dropping her hair. She avoided looking at Chloe's face, reflected in the mirror over her shoulder. She knew if she looked at her she would feel the heat in places other than her cheeks.

"Thank you," she smiled. The lingering thought of Chloe's fingers trailing on her back made the hairs on her arms stand on end.

"Is this the one then?" Chloe said quietly, and Beca felt her finger trace the curve of her waist.

"It seems to get your seal of approval." Beca said, and winked at Chloe's reflection in the mirror. Chloe stared back, her eyes bright as she looked into Beca's - but her fingers trailed patterns from her left him, across the small of her back, and up to where the fabric of the dress ended just below Beca's right shoulder blade. She felt Chloe trace the outline of her floral tattoo.

"It really, really does." Chloe said softly into her ear, then begun trailing her fingers again across Beca's back. She couldn't help it; she was drawn to her, and the cool touch of Beca's pale skin beneath her fingers made her feel electric and truly alive; it made everything else in the world go silent, and all she could hear was the quickening thud of her heart in her chest and the soft whisps of Beca's breathing.

She knew that Beca had asked if they could take things slow, she knew how scared she was - but she wanted to make her feel safe. She wanted to let Beca know she was going to be safe, she could let Chloe into her life, and she wasn't going to leave or hurt her. She tried to tell her this through the way her fingers skimmed along the curve of her shoulderblade, the way they pressed softly where the bone jutted out, and then gently dipping the back of her nail into the curve of skin below the blade, pressing with barely a touch. She watched the goosebumps rise on Beca's skin as she did so, and trailed her fingers back over the nubs of skin gently. She followed Beca's back, riding the back of her nails over the dip between her shoulders, over to her right hand side as she gripped her hips in her hands from behind, and blew a soft stream of air along Beca's shoulder and up Beca's exposed neck.

Beca didn't pull away as Chloe had expected, instead allowing Chloe to move her mouth, combining her spidery touch and gentle warm breath with an occasional nip of her skin between her lips. Beca rolled her head to one side, closing her eyes and allowing Chloe better access to her neck and jaw. Chloe slowly worked her way along Beca's neck, her own chest pressed firmly against Beca's back, with her hands wandering around her hips.

Chloe nuzzled her mouth against Beca's pulse point, and - overcome suddenly by desire, spurred on by the taste of Beca's sweet perfume and her skin, warm in her mouth - she sucked down slightly harder than she had meant. Beca yelped - a combination of fear and desire enveloping her. Her entire body tingled.

"I'm sorry!" Chloe said, letting go of Beca's hips. "You said take it slow, and here I am - I just - you look -"

"Shut up." Beca said, before turning and slamming her mouth to Chloe's. Her hands trailed down Chloe's side and her kisses, fierce and driven by desire, were left hot and heavy down Chloe's neck. She heard her gasp in her hear, and the sound and sensation of Chloe's hot breath excited in ways she couldn't even begin to comprehend.

"I thought-" Beca gasped, as she felt Chloe's hand firm on her waist and her fervent kisses reciprocated fiercely along her jaw. "I thought you said we were taking things slow?"

"That was your idea," chloe growled, breaking from the kiss and curling her hand into the nape of Beca's neck. She winked and leant in, but before she touched her lips to Beca's own, she hesitated. "And I was fine with that," she whispered. Her breath was hot and sweet on Beca's mouth. It made her legs feel weak. "And then you tried that dress on. And god damn it Mitchell-" she kissed her hard once more, before pulling away, leaving Beca whimpering, "I have changed my mind."

Her voice was low, a feral growl in her throat. Beca moaned, before taking Chloe's lips back against her own, and feeling her hands grab the backs of her thighs firmly, lifting her up and allowing Beca to wrap her legs around Chloe's waist.

"Fuck," she gasped as Chloe slammed her hard against a wall, pressing her hot mouth to her neck.

"This dress is incredible," Chloe said, soft in Beca's ear. She ignored Beca's pleading whimpers as she sucked along her neck, and around her jaw to her other ear. She momentarily took the lobe between her teeth, and felt Beca quiver in her arms. "It's really incredible, but please, please can we take it off?"  
Beca nodded, having already succumbed to her desres. It was crazy - they were crazy - but my god, she couldn't remember having wanted anything so badly in her life.

Chloe wouldn't hurt her, she reminded herself, as her legs were gently lowered and Chloe turned her around, planting more soft kisses along her neck, and shoulders, and back. She wouldn't hurt her and she wasn't going to leave. She felt Chloe's fingers leave her back, and she glanced over her shoulders to see Chloe clicking the lock shut on the door.

"Just in case," she smiled, then leaned back in onto her shoulder and quietly murmured, "Now where was I?"

Beca felt her fingers on her back once again, and Chloe's touch did absolutely nothing to alleviate the growing warmth in her lower body.

Chloe's fingers clasped the zipper, pulling it down agonizingly slowly, almost one tooth at a time, and Beca thought that if she didn't hurry up she might burst.

Chloe, sensing Beca's agitation, decided she would slow things down even further. What a tease, she thought to herself and smiled. She peeled the dress from one shoulder, then sucked on the gentle jut of bone. She traversed to the other side, peeled the dress away from the skin and kissed it so, but only let the dress fall so far down that it still balanced on her torso, hanging from Beca's breasts at the front. Chloe let go of Beca's shoulders for a second, then, just before Beca had a chance to realise what was happening, ran her nail quickly up Beca's spine. The sensation made Beca's legs drop from beneath her with a whimper, and Chloe grabbed her before she could completely fall to the floor. The jolt made her dress fall from her chest, and as Beca turned in her arms, with Chloe leaning over her slightly, there was nothing to hide her exposed breasts, round and inviting as Beca's back arched.

She pulled herself up, wrapping her arms around Chloe's neck, kissing her fiercely and breaking away only to pull Chloe's shirt over her head. Beca groaned as she felt Chloe take her breasts in either hand, rubbing her nipples between her thumb and forefinger. Chloe pulled out of the kiss, aiming her mouth for one of Beca's breasts, but before she could clasp it in her mouth Beca pushed her hard against the opposite wall. Chloe stumbled, allowing Beca to step from her dress and pull Chloe back towards her. She did so by hooking her fingers under Chloe's bra straps. Their mouths crashed back together, and for a moment they were a tangle of hot and heavy breathing, wet mouths and bare skin in the middle of the room.

Chloe decided she was to take control, and pressed Beca hard up against the mirror, holding her wrists firmly in her hands and pushing them hard above Beca's head. As her bare back arched away from the cold mirror with a moan, Chloe leant forward, taking the opportunity of Beca's writhing neck and exposed breasts, and planted a trail of hot and wet kisses along Beca's neck and chest. She took one of her nipples in her mouth and sucked hard, rolling the skin under her tongue.

"Fuck!" Beca gasped, thrashing wildly under Chloe's grip which kept her pressed against the mirror. She lifted one leg, hooking her calf around the back of Chloe's thigh. Chloe noticed the warmth of Beca's groin pressing against her leg, the heat began to rise in her own core - and released one of arms to grab her thigh instead and hoist her around her waist. She groaned into Beca's mouth, clasping her hands into Beca's hair as her newly released hand grappled at her back, fumbling with the clasps of her bra, before tugging it off and throwing it aside without even breaking the kiss.

Beca dropped her leg from Chloe's waist, instead threading her fingers through Chloe's hair and pushing her mouth along her jaw. She was new to all of this but took Chloe's appreciative groans and whimpers which she felt vibrate in her chest as a good sign. Beca was finally able to push Chloe's frame from her own, and pinned her against the opposite wall. She left hot and sticky kisses along her exposed chest, working along her neck and feeling her heavy heartbeats throbbing on her pulsepoint.

She trailed down along her collar, sucking slightly in all the dips of skin. She wanted Chloe to enjoy this as much as she was. She smiled into her kiss as Chloe grunted, an "Oh, yes," forming quiet between her open lips. Beca carried on her work, trailing her fingers down Chloe's bare ribs and - quivering slightly - traced an 'o' with her tongue delicately on Chloe's nipple. It stiffened almost instantly, the fleshy mound pushed hard into Beca's mouth as Chloe's back arched.

Beca felt Chloe's nails on her scalp, her hands threading into her hair with a roughness only desire can bring. Chloe hooked her own legs around Beca's tiny waist as she felt her work on her skin, gliding her mouth over her exposed breasts as though she had done this with Chloe a thousand times. She found her sensitive spots with expert precision, and Chloe's chest heaved.

Beca's hands slid from Chloe's side to the waistband of her jeans and Chloe felt her thumbs pressed at the front of her hip, with her fingers sliding around the back, sliding into her jeans.

"Beca!" she moaned, and dropped her legs from her waist. Beca smiled and straightened up.

"Sorry," she murmoured, but her apologies were cut short - Chloe's mouth once again hard on her own. She reached down, fumbling blindly for the button of Chloe's jeans, then giving them a short sharp tug just as Chloe pushed her against the mirror again.

"No need," Beca whimpered, hooking her legs back around Chloe's waist as she advanced, fast back at work. I'll give you something to moan about, Chloe thought, and grabbed Beca firmly by the base of her butt. Beca gasped into her mouth feeling Chloe's fingers pressing hard into her skin, and she writhed as she felt Chloe's teasing tug on her underwear. Her hips thrust unexpectedly onto Chloe's waist.

"Oh, Chloe - please-" she muttered breathlessly through Chloe''s hair as her mouth worked hard on her breasts, thumbing one whilst sucking and licking hard on the other.

"Please what?" Chloe teased, bringing her head back up to leave a hot whisper in Beca's ear. Beca's standing leg shook as her hip thrust out towards Chloe.

Chloe had hoped she at least looked confident in what she was doing, as she felt far from it. Her lips trembled as she teasingly took Beca's earlobe between her teeth, and her hands wavered as they trailed up and down Beca's ribs. She could feel the heat from between Beca's legs pressed hard against her hip and she shifted just to her side, allowing Beca to support herself as she trailed a finger from one rib to her navel. She gently hooked her finger under the elasticated band of Beca's underwear, sliding her hand from one hip to the other. Beca's breath came in short sharp gasps, hot in Chloe's ear. She glanced up at Beca, her eyes wide and dark, saw her swallow then nuzzle her head in close to Chloe's and nodded.

"It's alright." she whispered, and Chloe leant in to kiss her. Although Beca pressed lustfully hard into her mouth Chloe restrained; taking every ounce of self control she could muster she pressed her lips to Beca's slowly, delicately tracing the curve of her mouth with her tongue, then pulling away. She wanted nothing more than to carry on with as much fierce lust as she could manage, but instead hovered her mouth above Beca's. The rounds of their lips just touched, and Chloe tried to steady her breathing in time to that of Beca's. She waited, feeling the purr of Beca's breath on her lips and the pounding of her chest against her own until she could stand it no more and pushed her fingers into Beca's underwear.

As she did so she clamped her mouth onto Beca's, thrusting her tongue into her mouth, taking her gasp and her moan into her breath. She rolled her tongue across Beca's teeth, biting her lip with a sharp nip. She delicately traced a line with her index finger against the hot folds of skin within Beca's underwear, feeling her own stomach twist and turn, and a rage of desire flush hot to her core. she pulled herself from Beca's mouth and moaned a lustful whisper into Beca's ear, unable to hold her desire in. Her groans sent the hair on Beca's body to stand on end, and once more her hips bucked uncontrollably, and Chloe's finger was forced into the hot, wet crux between her legs.

Fluid coated Chloe's finger and she shuddere almost as much as Beca did in her arms. She pulled out slightly before thrusting a single finger back in further, feeling Beca judder beneath her again. She whelped and Chloe went to pull her hand out entirely.

"No," Beca said softly, biting her lip and taking Chloe's wrist in her hand. "Don't."

Chloe leant forward, placing a soft, teasing kiss on her lips, before pushing her finger back into Beca once more. She curled it slightly as she went to pull away, and whimpered herself, her desire taking hold as Beca tightened around her digit. As she thrust a second finger into the slick, warm folds she found her own hand trailing towards her own underwear. Beca, noticing Chloe's whimper, opened her eyes, and between thrust-induced groans, managed to grab Chloe's hand as her fingers reached her own very hot and very wet centre.

"Don't you dare," Beca growled into Chloe's ear, pushing her inquisitive fingers aside. "That's mine."

"Shut up." Chloe purred, and trailed her thumb in a circle over Beca's clit for a teasing moment before sending three fingers into her centre with a gruff thrust. Beca writhed, groaning, hot and fierce, then yanked at Chloe's underwear, pulling her torso close and pushing her fumbling fingers inside.

Her fingers trailed delicately for a second before Chloe, sensing her apprehension, folded her own hand over the back of Beca's and guided it gently into her.

"Fucking hell Chloe," Beca murmoured as pleasure broiled in Chloe's body, and she paused her undulating movements inside of Beca, too overcome to continue.

Chloe didn't acknowledge Beca's comment, instead feeling the heat begin to build as Beca's fingers teased her, and her walls begin to tense in anticipation. She pulled her own hand away from Beca's and slammed it against the mirror next to Beca's head, breathing out hard. Her back arched and she thrust her hips into Beca's working fingers. She grabbed Beca's waist, smearing her own sticky fluid slightly on the pare skin as she fumbled for her grip. She felt Beca's fingers curl inside of her and she whimpered, a gasp coming hot and sharp from her mouth. Her legs felt weak. She'd be damned if she came first though, she thought, and resumed her toying of Beca's clit, whilst leaning forward and sucking down hard on the erect nub of Beca's nipple. It did the trick, Beca gasped and her hips bucked hard onto Chloe's hand. She felt her walls clench around her fingers, and she thrust even harder.

"I'm-I'm not-" Beca gasped, the fierceness of her own thrusts inside of Chloe inside of Chloe increasing too, and Chloe pulled away from her breast, biting hard on her own lip, trying to ride out for as long as she possibly could.

Whatever Beca was she never got to say as Chloe flexed and then curled her fingers one final time, Beca's walls closing around her in a violent throb, pulsing in waves of warmth and moisture around Chloe's fingers. Beca gasped in Chloe's ear and a bundle of superlative curses followed, hot and quiet. It was enough to finish Chloe - her legs gave way from beneath her as Beca thrust one final time, fiercely rubbing her clit with her thumb. They tumbled together to the floor, Chloe's eyes still closed as she rode out her high, quivering in Beca's arms.

"Oh..." she managed after a moment. Her hand was resting on Beca's inner thigh, with Beca's other leg hooked over her waist. Their foreheads pressed together, and Beca moved her hand up Chloe's waist, pulling her closer.

"When you said," Beca whispered, "That dress shopping would be fun, I wouldn't have hesitated so much if I'd have known this was going to be involved."

Chloe smiled and leant into kiss Beca. She pulled her hand from Beca's thigh and slid it up her body, rolling it fron the curve of her hip to her waist and round to her back where she trailed a spidery circle then pulled Beca close.

Beca squirmed in her arms, and Chloe pulled her head away. "What's wrong?"

Beca's cheekbones, already pink and slightly sweaty, seemed to get redder. "Can you... can you um, not do that, please..."

Chloe laughed. "Why not?"

"I'm... just... I'm a bit..." Beca's voice dropped and she averted her gaze. "I'm a bit tingly."

Chloe bit the inside of her mouth to stop her grin bursting across her lips.

"Okay," she said, "I'm sorry," then pulled Beca closer, allowing her to tuck her head into the crux of her neck. She lay there, still and quiet for a moment, enjoying the serenity of the sound of Beca's soft breathing and the ripple of her hair as it moved beneath Chloe's own breath. Smiling, she pressed her mouth into Beca's hair.

"Don't go." she murmoured quietly into the tumbles of brown hair.  
"I won't." Beca said quietly, her voice warm on Chloe's chest. "Not this time."


	17. Chapter 17

They lay together for a little while, having coiled their arms and legs around each others. Chloe closed her eyes, resting her chin on the top of Beca's head. She could smell the residual hum of blueberry shampoo in her hair and found it soothing.

"Chlo'?" Beca murmured softly after a moment.

"Mm?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Mm?"

"You, uh, you do realise we're lying on the floor, right?"

"Mm."

"Good. Just, you know, so long as you know."

Chloe kept her eyes closed, smiling into Beca's hair.

"Come on then," she said after a moment. "Let's get out of here."

Beca cocked her head upwards, allowing Chloe to lean forward and kiss her gently on the lips. She pushed herself up on her elbows with Beca still cradled between her legs. With a smile Chloe squeezed her thighs together, pinning Beca in position.

"Chlo' you're gonna have to let me go if you want to leave," Beca said, squirming with a giggle as Chloe's hands roamed around her waist, her fingers touching her sides with a spidery graze. "Stop! We're, um, a bit… naked. We should fix that, before we walk out…"

"I like you this way," Chloe teased, rolling a strand of Beca's hair through her fingers. Beca just rolled her eyes and made to move, suddenly very aware she was still very nude.

"Chloe, you're sat on my clothes," she hissed after a moment of scrambling, pressing a hand to her breast to try and cover up.

"Well then, you'll just have to stay as you are," Chloe said with a wink, laughing as Beca tried an odd combination of wrapping her arms across her body to save some dignity and at the same time push Chloe from the pile of clothes behind her. It resulted in a frustrated wobble, half bent over in front of her. Chloe pursed her lips, swallowing her laughter as Beca's face showed her frustration. She reached behind herself and pulled out the clothes, holding them out and cocking her head to one side with a smile.

Beca scrambled to pull her underwear back on, and Chloe smiled, watching the blush rise from Beca's neck to her cheeks. Beca spun around, kicking Chloe's clothes back towards her with her toe, but as she did so her cell dropped from the bundle of clothes in her arms. It bounced next to Chloe.

"Leave it," Beca said as Chloe reached to hand it back to her. Beca pulled her sweatshirt on over her head. "I'll pick it up in a minute."

Chloe began to get dressed, regretting none of the sneaky glances she shot at Beca wriggling back into her tight jeans. The buzz of Beca's phone ringing caught her eye.

"Bex, someone's ringing you," she said, bending in only her bra and panties.

"Who is it?" Beca asked, not looking up as she bent to tie the laces on her boots.

"Jesse." Chloe said with a frown as she flipped the phone in her hands and read the name on the illuminated screen.

Beca sighed, exasperated. "Seriously? Ignore it." She reached back for the other boot just as there was a knock on the door. The girls stared at each other for a second, both wide eyed, before another knock jolted them into action.

"Shit!" Chloe gasped, fumbling around for the rest of her clothes.

"Girls?" the shopkeeper's voice called out, muffled from the other side of the door. "Is everything alright?"

"Stand there!" Beca hissed, grabbing Chloe by the shoulders and pushing her behind where the door would open.

"Hey," Beca smiled, as sweetly as she could upon opening the door. Chloe pressed her back as far into the wall as she could so as to not be noticed. She also pressed her hand to her mouth, stifling giggles. "We'll be right out, sorry it's taken so long." Beca said.

"Did you manage to pick one?" Chloe heard the old lady say. She saw Beca nod, then glanced down, noticing her trying to flick the teal dress out of the old lady's sight, as it now lay in a heap in the middle of the floor where Beca had stepped from it in her lust fuelled haste. Despite Beca's best efforts the dress had now snagged on one of her boots, and Chloe had to bite her lip to stop her laughing as she watched Beca try and retain her composure as the old lady talked about washing and steaming and pressing the fabrics, whilst Beca's leg shook as furiously as she could surreptitiously manage behind the door.

Chloe knelt down and freed the dress from Beca's boot, her hand still pressed to her mouth. She straightened up, folding it over her arm as the old lady patted Beca on the shoulder and promised her a twenty-percent discount for being "just so lovely". Beca shut the door and sighed.

"I swear, I thought she wasn't going to leave!" Chloe said, laughing at the exasperation on Beca's face.

"I thought she wanted to see me try the bloody thing on!" Beca growled, taking the dress from Chloe's outstretched arm. She averted her gaze, having noticed that Chloe was still in her underwear.

"Everything alright?" Chloe teased, her face as deadpan as she could manage. She pitted her hands upon her hips, smirking as Beca tried not to smile and looked away.

"Fine." Beca nodded. "I'll er, I'll go pay, I think." She said awkwardly, indicating towards the door.

"Okay." Chloe nodded encouragingly, still not taking her hands from her hips. She paused for a second, biting the smile back from her lips.

"Get dressed!" Beca said, rolling her eyes but still smiling at Chloe. "I'll wait out here whilst you pick a dress and get yourself sorted."

"Oh – I'm not buying one – I just like trying them on. Mine's already at home."

Beca's face dropped as she stood in the doorway to the changing room. "You're kidding?"

"Nope," Chloe said, her laugh tinkling. "It's pink."She added, then shut the changing room door in Beca's face with a grin.

"You are unbelievable." Beca muttered.

"I heard that!" Chloe called back through the door. "Should I tell Jesse that too if he calls again?"

Beca smirked, enjoying the way the thought of Chloe still made her smile and caught her off guard.

She wandered through the shop and gently put the dress on the counter, her mind wandering to what had just happened. She had never – but that was – she bowed her head, her hair falling across her cheeks to hide the flush that crept across them, just as the shopkeeper caught her eye.

"Everything alright dear?" the old lady asked with a smile as she carefully folded the dress inside a thin layer of tissue.

"Surprisingly – yes." Beca said, looking up to see the old lady watching her greedily through milky eyes. She smiled, and the lady smiled toothlessly back.

"Good." She said. "It's nice when things are all right. Even more so when they catch you by surprise."

She slid the dress into a square paper bag as Beca pushed the card into the machine.

"I knocked your twenty off." The old lady said with a wink. "I've never known a customer take so long in the changing rooms. I guessed you must have found something special."

Beca laughed.

"You could say that." Her insides were warm at the thought of the changing room escapades.

"Look after it," the lady said, handing over the bag as Beca tucked her purse away.

"Thanks – I will," Beca smiled at the old lady's wise words. "I'll just go get my friend." She thumbed towards the changing rooms.

"Don't mind me," the shopkeeper waved nonchalantly and hoisted her stout frame back onto her stool behind the old fashioned cash register.

"Chloe?" Beca called as she neared the changing rooms. "You ready?"

There was no reply, so she pushed on Chloe's changing room door. It swung open, and Beca saw her boots still under the chair and her coat and un-worn dresses still hanging from the hooks.

"Chloe?" she called again, turning towards her own changing room. She tapped on the door and the impact pushed it open.

Chloe was stood in the middle of the cubicle, fully dressed bar her shoes, but clutching something in the palms of her hands. She was staring at it and – crying, Beca noticed with a horrible jolt to her stomach.

"Chloe?" Beca asked softy. "What's going on?"

She looked up, jolting as if shocked by Beca's voice, and furiously rubbed away fresh tears from her cheeks.

"You tell me." She said after a moment, her voice thick and pained with emotion. Beca's stomach dropped.

"I don't-" she tried, but Chloe tossed what she held in her hands into the air, Beca instinctively stepped forward, catching it. It was her cell. She glanced down at the screen, a message glowing – a message she had never seen before. From Jesse.

"I'm sorry about last night," Beca heard Chloe recite as her eyes scanned the phone. "If I'd have known you were going to call it off I would have kissed you twice as hard."

Chloe's voice broke as she finished, and Beca looked up to see fresh tears making hot, angry tracks down her cheeks.

"It rang – again – so I picked it up and that was on the screen." Chloe said quietly.

"Chloe – I swear-" Beca tried, but Chloe shook her head.

"This is why you wouldn't commit then, isn't it? At least I know now."

"No!"

"You had to break it off with Jesse first. I understand."

"This is not what you think!" Beca shouted, but Chloe just scoffed.

"Right. Okay." She said, and squeezed past Beca, careful to avoid her touch. She left the changing room, turning towards her own.

"You really think I would date Jesse behind your back?" Beca said, following her to the other cubicle. She tried to reach out and grab Chloe by the arm, but she pulled away sharply.

"Get off me."

"Are we really doing this?" Beca yelled angrily. "You really think I would do this to you?"

"Beca – I don't know what I think anymore!" Chloe yelled back, her head down. She pulled her boots on with such force the zipper nearly snapped clean off.

"I promise you – I promise you – nothing happened between me and Jesse." Beca said, kneeling in front of Chloe. She paused, leaning down to fasten her other boot.

Their faces were merely inches apart. Beca reached up to wipe a tear from Chloe's face, her thumb brushing softly over her cheek. "Nothing is happening," she said softly, "and nothing ever has. Chloe, I didn't want to commit to you because I was scared I would get hurt. It was a stupid thing to think, and I'm sorry." She cupped Chloe's other cheek in the palm of her hand. "I don't want anyone else." She added quietly.

Every inch of her body – every ounce of gut instinct that ran through her veins – it all told her to run, leave, as she normally would when confronted with her fears. But she had promised Chloe she wouldn't as she had laid with her – that moment when everything had been right with the world, and she wasn't going back on her word now. Not this time.

She looked into Chloe's eyes and sorrow filled her heart. She longed to make this right, fix it all, stop the tears – kick Jesse hard in the nether regions – but all she found herself able to do, all she could muster as her body was enveloped by sadness at seeing Chloe's pain, was a quiet apology.

"I'm so sorry." Her voice was barely even audible.

Chloe blinked and took her lip in her mouth biting back on the prickle of tears that threatened to come. Then she looked down, away from Beca, and shrugged her hands from her face.

"You're lying." She whispered. "Even now."

And with that she stood up, brushing Beca to the floor.

"Chloe, I'm not-"

"When Jesse came round to ask about your music, what happened?" Chloe said, shrugging her coat on. Her voice was completely devoid of emotion and it made Beca feel sick. The whole sordid situation made Beca feel sick. She looked at the floor, unable to bring herself to look at Chloe, whose eyes were red and sore, heer mascara beginning to be tugged into a dark smudge, bleeding into dark tracks down her cheeks.

"He, uh," Beca rubbed her eyes between her thumb and forefinger. She knew she wasn't in the wrong but didn't think she could bear the onslaught when she finally admitted they had kissed – despite it not even being her fault. "He turned up and told me – I mean – he – he brought soup."

She sighed, feeling ridiculous.

"He just turned up, I told him to go, he promised he would if I just – if I told him how to mix, and then he… he just tried – he didn't, I mean, we didn't – he tried to kiss me," she sighed again. "And then I threw him out."

She looked up at Chloe, who's face had blanched.

"And when was this?" she stammered.

"Last night." Beca said quietly, inhaling deeply. "But I swear – I swear Chloe-"

But it was too late.

Chloe pushed past her, a sob whimpering from her lips as her fingers momentarily brushed against Beca's. She ran from the shop as quickly as she could manage without arousing suspicion in the glassy eyed old woman who hunched over a book at the cash register. Beca could do naught but watch, her legs felt dumb and she couldn't get them to move properly.

She swallowed hard, her tongue thick and constricting in her mouth, and tears prickling hard at her eyes.

She felt heavy, her chest heaving as she fought the sobs growing deep in her stomach, rising like bile to her throat. It was like every other time, she thought. Here she was, having finally opened up to someone, allowed them into her stupid little life – and this time she had left somebody hurting as much as she did.

She was going to kill Jesse.


	18. Chapter 18

Chloe had no recollection of how she ended up back at her halls – and only started to realise where she was when she felt a cold hand on her shoulder.

"Chloe?"

She looked up, but her eyes were thick with tears and felt heavy in her skull. Her head hurt, and her vision swam.

"What's happened?" the same voice asked. Gentle fingers brushed at the corners of her mouth. Chloe blinked, trying hard to bring the world back into focus. She swallowed hard, but her mouth felt thick and woollen with an ugly acidic taste coating her tongue. The cold fingers wiped at the corners of her mouth again. Chloe's eyes followed the slender hand to an outstretched arm, the shoulder of which was covered in a bundle of tumbling blonde curls, framing a stern face. Aubrey.

"Have you been drinking?" Aubrey asked. Chloe dumbly shook her head.

"Why are you covered in sick then?"  
Chloe felt Aubrey press against her as she leant past. The toilet flushed beside Chloe's head, loud and obtrusive.

"Talk to me." Aubrey said firmly, hooking her hands into Chloe's armpits and pulling her to her feet. "Easy," she said, as Chloe swayed. "The bowl's there – don't miss it -"

Chloe felt Aubrey's hands on her shoulders, directing her back towards the toilet as her stomach turned and she doubled over, retching into the bowl. Aubrey's cold fingers looped into her hair, pulling it away from the side of her face and out of the way. Nothing more came from her stomach though, and after a tentative shiver Chloe turned, her fingers fumbling for purchase on the slippery tiled walls as she tried to straighten up. Aubrey's firm grip came back under her arms, hoisting her steadily upright Again. She carefully eased Chloe from the cubicle, one hand on one hip and the other wrapped solidly around her waist. Aubrey made sure Chloe was balanced steadily leaning against the counter before reaching across and filling a glass quickly with water.

"My dad always says to sip it," Aubrey said, pressing it into Chloe's palms. Chloe looked dumbly at the cold glass as Aubrey brushed the sick from her shirt as best she could. The water was cold, Chloe noticed, as she pressed her cracked lips to the curve of the glass and sipped, feeling its cold contents sliding down her throat and into her empty stomach.

"Are you sick?" Aubrey asked. Her voice had a snap to it, Chloe noticed, but she was nevertheless glad she was there.

Chloe shook her head again.

"What's been going on then? I only came to get my toothbrush and find you slumped in that incomprehensible state. Tell me. What happened?"

Aubrey hooked her arm around Chloe's waist again, easing her towards the bathroom door.

"Has someone hurt you?" she said with a slight sigh as she eased Chloe's stumbling form down the corridor towards their dorm room.

Chloe shrugged, her hand steadying herself as she watched Aubrey fumble with her key in the lock. The door swung open and Aubrey indicated with a look and a wave of her hand for Chloe to enter. Instead, Chloe stood still, her legs like lead. Her hand, heavy and stupid, came up to her face and tried to brush the tears away before they came, but it was too late.  
Her chest heaved and a whimper burst from her lips. Tears spilled, hot and unforgiving, down her cheeks. Aubrey stared for a second, watching Chloe press her hand to her mouth as if to stifle herself. Her eyes were wide; Aubrey had seen her upset before, but this… this was something else. Aubrey grabbed her shoulders as Chloe whimpered again, scared she was about to fall to the floor, steered her through the doorway and sat her down on the edge of her bed.

"Has somebody died, or – am I just totally unaware of what's gone on-" Aubrey shook her head in frustration. "You're gonna have to help me out here Chloe, I-"

"It's Beca." Chloe mumbled, her mouth thick.

"What?!" Aubrey yelled, and her grip on Chloe's shoulders tightened.

"She's not – I mean – dead – she's not dead though." Chloe added quietly.

"I don't understand."

Chloe sighed and looked away as a fresh stream of tears made their way down her ruddy cheeks. Aubrey watched as she looked up to the ceiling, trying as hard as she could to regain her composure. Chloe's breath was tight in her chest; she knew Aubrey had been right, all along, and she couldn't face looking at her as the realisation dawned. She'd pushed her best friend away and could have been left with nothing – she probably would still be left with nothing; Aubrey hardly looked pleased to have found her.

"I'm sorry," Chloe whispered, her voice tiny. "Bree, I'm so sorry…"

"Enough." Aubrey snapped, and Chloe looked down at her. Aubrey sighed.

"Whatever's happened you have nothing to apologise for."

"You were right though," Chloe sniffed.

Aubrey paused, her hand midway up to reach and brush Chloe's cheek. She clenched her jaw, her hand falling back to her side. For a second Chloe saw her contemplating all of the 'I-told-you-so's' she would unfurl, but instead Aubrey dropped to her knees in front of her, and bowed her head in close.

"It doesn't matter what I said," she said quietly. "It doesn't matter what anybody said. I'm here now, and I want to make sure you're okay." Aubrey reached her hands up to Chloe's face, threading her long fingers through her hair and brushing her damp cheeks with her thumbs. "You'll get through this."

Her voice had a softness to it which Chloe had never before experienced. In all the years she had known Aubrey she had never heard her sound so genuinely concerned. Chloe fiercely blinked back tears as Aubrey's hands moved from her cheeks, crossing over her shoulders and pulling her into a warm, friendly embrace. Chloe's breath caught in her chest and she sobbed into Aubrey's collarbone as Aubrey's lithe fingers pressed a gentle, soothing circle in the gap between her shoulder blades.

"It's okay," Chloe heard her nurse, her voice murmuring into her hair. "It will all be alright."

Aubrey didn't care what Beca had done, she realised angrily as she rubbed Chloe's back soothingly, waiting patiently for her tears to subside. Regardless of whatever it was, she thought, she would make her pay for this. And the fact that Aubrey had been right about her? Right now that was by the by, she would bring it up in due time she decided. Chloe needed someone and she was here and that was enough.  
Slowly, Chloe's ragged breathing eased on Aubrey's shoulder and she pulled away, allowing Aubrey to glance down at herself.

"You've got sick on my shirt," Aubrey remarked, and Chloe managed a small smile.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"I'll let you off this time." Aubrey said, as she pushed herself to her feet. She reached for a clean sweatshirt from Chloe's wardrobe and tossed it onto the bed. Chloe didn't move to undress.  
Instead, Aubrey watched as Chloe sat and cried, silently. Her chest didn't heave and nor did her stomach. She didn't whimper or shake, but the tears ran down her face regardless as Chloe stared silently at the wall opposite.

"Come on," Aubrey said, trying to disguise her huff as she knelt back in front of her friend. "You're not this heartbroken."

She reached over to the top button of Chloe's red blouse, pushing the button through the hole with agile fingers.

"Take it off then," Aubrey said sternly, but Chloe didn't move, still staring blankly ahead. Aubrey rolled her eyes before moving to the next button.

Her long fingers worked at each fastening, all the way down, until the red blouse gaped at the front. Aubrey looked up from where her fingers had worked to notice Chloe watching her, her eyes weary, saddened and sunken.

"Take off your shirt," Aubrey said again, this time softer. Chloe reached across to shrug one sleeve from her shoulder, and as she did so felt Aubrey's fingers, cool and delicate, crossed around the back of her hand, guiding the thin fabric from her torso.

Chloe became aware that the aches in her body lessened with Aubrey's familiar touch.

Aubrey, on the other hand, became aware of how much she had missed her best friend. She was ashamed to admit it, and her pride took a painful dent, but however wrongly Beca had behaved – and however right that now proved her to be – she still shouldn't have argued with Chloe. Without her she would feel a lot emptier inside. She would have nobody to confide in, nobody to pester about how imperfect things were, and worst of all, Aubrey realised, nobody to aspire to be like. She admired Chloe's patience, willingness, acceptance of everybody, the way she listened when everybody else talked. She admired the way she put everybody else first, probably even without realising. Aubrey learnt new things about herself every day she was with Chloe. She was a bitch to her sometimes, and Chloe had the ability to give as good as she got – but she was always the one to apologise first. She was weird, they disagreed about the silliest of things, and it frustrated Aubrey no end that Chloe could eat a seemingly endless amount of pizza without gaining so much as half a pound. Despite all of this Chloe had been the one who stuck by her, through everything. All of the ups and downs college had thrown at them, Chloe had always been the one to sneak back to Aubrey's side, giving her hand a quick squeeze when nobody else was looking, and leaving an encouraging word quiet in her ear.

As much as Aubrey strived for perfection Chloe was the odd blip on her otherwise seamless horizon, and although she tried – subconsciously of course – to straighten things out, she didn't truly want her to change.

"What are you thinking about?" Chloe murmured, as Aubrey thread her hands through the armholes of the sweatshirt and pulled it over her head. "You've got a funny look on your face."

Aubrey smiled, then shrugged.

"Nothing important."

She straightened up, folding Chloe's dirty blouse in on itself and tucking it into the laundry basket at the end of her bed. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

Chloe shrugged, then lay back on her bed, tucking her knees in close to herself.

"Better."

MLB"Good." Aubrey said, sitting delicately beside her, then lifting Chloe's legs, sliding beneath them, and resting them down across her lap.

Chloe lay silently for a while, and Aubrey watched over her.

"What do I do now?" She asked softly after a few moments of quiet.

Aubrey pursed her lips.

"I mean," Chloe continued, staring bleakly at Aubrey's empty bed across the dorm, whilst Aubrey watched her closely. "I just left her. In the shop. On her own."

"And?" Aubrey questioned, with a raised and disapproving eyebrow. "She's a big girl; she knows how to hail a cab home."

"No, it just… It feels like I should be doing something about it." Chloe said sadly.

"What? Why?" Aubrey frowned. "Look at yourself Chloe, don't tell me you're going to chase her back after this?"

"No – that's not what I mean, I just…" Chloe's voice trailed off into nothingness, and Aubrey watched on, perplexed.

Chloe just simply didn't know what to do next; she had been on this end of breakups before – unrequited attraction was something she was used to. This time though she felt so sure that Beca had felt the same way, after all the doubting she had toyed with, after everything Beca had admitted (or, Chloe realised, had perhaps pretended to admit) she had just assumed it would all be okay. They would be together. It was Beca being honest – that Beca had been as honest as Chloe was. That was what hurt the most. Losing that trust. Giving yourself to someone and finding that they didn't really want you in the first place. Or, giving yourself openly and honestly to someone and finding out you'd been stupid enough to believe anything they'd said.

"Chloe, if she's hurt you this bad you can't possibly consider taking her back, right?" Aubrey said, her tone sharp and direct.

Chloe sighed.

"I want to believe that she didn't kiss Jesse so bad, Aubrey. I want to go back to this morning. I wish I'd never answered her phone. I wish I'd never been so honest. I wish I'd never touched her; I wish she'd never touched me. I wish it didn't hurt. Bree, it really does you know. I just… I wish I'd never met her."

"You're wrong to blame yourself for this." Aubrey said shortly. It was the kindest thing she was able to say; she previously hadn't thought it possible but it was most definitely plausible that she hated Beca even more now than she had before. Her cheeks flushed in anger as she watched Chloe looking so empty and lifeless.

"It is my fault. I should never have gone chasing her." Chloe said, still staring straight ahead. "You said not to, and I did it anyway."

"Oh for goodness sake Chloe! I told you that because I was jealous!" Aubrey shouted out, exasperated – and then clamped her hand to her mouth, realisation setting in at what she had openly admitted. Her eyes widened.  
Chloe turned slowly, then pushed herself up onto her elbows, all the while staring quite dumfounded at Aubrey. Aubrey did not turn to face her; staring instead at the wall opposite, her eyes still wide and her hand firmly over her mouth.

"What – what do you mean, you were jealous?" Chloe asked, pulling her legs from Aubrey's lap and crossing them beneath her butt.

Aubrey looked everywhere but at Chloe, then sighed, then rested her palms in her lap, fidgeting uncomfortably.

"Bree!" Chloe said sternly.

"Fine!" Aubrey snapped. "I thought I was going to lose you to her, is that alright? I was jealous, and I shouldn't have been." She turned to Chloe, and glared, rolling her jaw. "She was never going to be good enough for you."

"Oh my god…" Chloe's head flopped into her hands for a second, before she flung them exasperatedly at Aubrey. "Are you kidding me right now? Aubrey, that's crazy – I-"

Aubrey shook her head.

"Forget I said anything."

"No – I – don't -" Chloe grappled for words. "You don't need to worry that people won't be good enough for me, I want you to know that."  
Chloe reached over and took Aubrey's hands into her own palms. "Bree – Aubrey, listen to me-" Aubrey squirmed, eventually turning to face Chloe. "You don't need to be the one to decide for me that someone isn't going to be good enough. I can make that mistake on my own."

Aubrey rolled her eyes.

"And get hurt again?"

Chloe smiled, a half-hearted slither creeping across her lips.

"Probably," she nodded. "But if I don't try I'm never going to learn. Do you know what I mean?"

Aubrey sighed.

"You're trying to tell me you actually want to make mistakes?"  
Chloe nodded gently.

"Don't you find it boring have everything go right on the first attempt?"

"Nothing ever goes right for me first time!" Aubrey scoffed, pulling her hands from Chloe's and folding her arms haughtily.

"Stop trying to make it so then!" Chloe said. "Honestly, it's alright for things to go wrong – I promise, as much as it sucks straight away, in the long run you'll learn more about yourself than you would have done if you got everything a-okay on the first attempt, every single time you tried something."

Aubrey's brow furrowed and Chloe laughed. "You know I'm right."

"You're not – I never said – You know, I liked you better when you were sad and dreary, and liked staring at that wall."  
Chloe half-smiled again.

"Aubrey, you need to make a mistake. You need to let things go. And then, if it all goes wrong I'll be the one who – who – whatever, who has to hold your hair back when you projectile everywhere -"

"It wouldn't be the first time."

Chloe shrugged at Aubrey's interjection.

"So what? Honestly, you'll be fine without me, wherever I end up, and whoever I end up with in the long run. I'll make more mistakes, and I'll get through them. We'll get through them together. I'm gonna be okay." She added as a solemn, and not-very-confident after thought. "You can come with me to that runway show. We'll wear something atrocious together, and we'll drink too much, and it'll be great."

"I'm not doing that, I'd rather-"

"Bree, you're missing the point! Make this mistake! I'm giving you the chance to do this!"

Aubrey huffed loudly. She was infuriated. She turned back to face Chloe, who was sat with her hands pulled into the sleeves of her sweatshirt and her legs crossed beneath her. Her eyes looked red and sore and her cheeks were dappled with ugly red blotches. Despite all of the sadness Aubrey knew she was feeling, she watched as Chloe cocked her head to one side and tried to put her bravest face on, a smile working across her lips.

"Fine." Aubrey rolled her eyes.

Chloe beamed and leant forwards to where Aubrey perched reservedly on the edge of the bed. Chloe reached her arms out to wrap them around Aubrey's neck, unsure of how to say all the words of thanks she wanted to, hoping instead that a hug would do her justice.

Instead, as she leant across to Aubrey, Aubrey too leant in towards her, ungraciously crashing her lips to Chloe's. Their mouths met with a painful bump, a tooth snagging on Aubrey's lip, and she quickly tasted something hot and bitter flowing onto the inside of her lip.

"Aubrey! Oh my – what the hell?" Chloe gasped, pulling away. Her fingers found her lips where she traced the sticky, bloody residue of her best friends mouth.

"I am so sorry!" Aubrey mumbled. Her hand was round her own mouth, and Chloe could see blood trickling between her fingers. Aubrey stood, stumbling towards the mirror. Chloe followed close behind.

"Are you insane?" Chloe asked, but her thoughts were quickly diverted as Aubrey pulled her hand from her mouth to reveal a very bloody and quickly swelling gash on her bottom lip. "Jesus – are you alright?"  
Aubrey's fingers traced the wound and she winced as more blood dripped down her chin. She looked at Chloe's reflection in the mirror, her head bobbing to the side trying to get a better view of the damage.

"I think-" Aubrey stammered "I think you head-butted me."

"Let me take a look," Chloe said, turning Aubrey round to face her. "And also – you just kissed me? I think I'm entitled to head-butt you if I want." Chloe leaned in towards Aubrey's face, pressing a tissue to the cut. "You're gonna need stitches, this goes pretty deep. I must have caught you with my tooth.''

"Are you kiddin' me?" Aubrey tried to pull away from Chloe to inspect the damage again herself, but Chloe's firm grip kept her still.

"No, I am not kidding you. Look how much it's bleeding – we need to take you to the emergency room, come on." Chloe pressed another clean wad of tissues into Aubrey's hand. "What the hell were you thinking?" She muttered as she reached for both of their coats.

Aubrey shrugged.

"I don't know – I - I wanted to see what the fuss was about!"

"What?" Chloe frowned, turning back as she reached for the door handle.

"I've never, I mean, I've wanted to – I just thought-"

Chloe laughed.

"Are you serious? You wanted to see if it was different, kissing a girl?"  
Aubrey rolled her eyes, sighed through the bloody wad of tissue pressed to her face and then nodded resolutely.

"And?" Chloe asked, holding the door open for Aubrey.

"I'm thinking it was probably a mistake."


	19. Chapter 19

Chloe reached up and tucked a loose curl of hair behind her ear. She was anxious but tried not to let it show, shaking the nerves from her stomach with a sigh. She pursed her lips into as much of a smile as she could muster and caught Aubrey, watching her reflection over her shoulder.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked. Chloe nodded firmly. "We can still stay in if you'd prefer you know."

Chloe turned to face her.

"Nope. I'm going to enjoy tonight – it was my idea and I'm going to go. With you." She said firmly with another nod. The curl fell from behind her ear again. "I'm going with you, and not Beca, and that's fine."

Her voice wavered at the mention of Beca's name but she pursed her lips, fighting the prickles in the corner of her eyes.

"It _is_ fine. She won't turn up – this is your night to enjoy." Aubrey said, reaching across and tucked the loose hair back behind Chloe's ear once again.

"It's _our_ night to enjoy." Chloe corrected.

Aubrey scoffed, running her finger over the swollen and bruised crest of her bottom lip.

"Well, that's alright for you to say but I can hardly enjoy it looking like this, can I?" she scowled, making Chloe laugh as she turned back to the mirror to check her make up a third and final time.

"There's no way you're holding me accountable for that," she said, smiling wryly as she picked at a smudge of eyeliner with her fingertip. "You brought it all upon yourself."

Aubrey's cheeks flushed furiously and Chloe watched her reflection over her shoulder with amusement as she furiously busied herself in her purse.

"Bree, you can't stay mad at me forever."

"I'm not mad." Aubrey said, without even looking up. Chloe smirked.

"You're also a terrible liar."

Aubrey glared up at her, a fierce scowl set across her face. "Fine. I _am_ mad – you told me to make a mistake, I made one, and now I look like I went three rounds with Fat Amy's boxing kangaroo."

"Fat Amy's got a boxing kangaroo?"

Aubrey glowered.

"I'm kidding," Chloe chuckled, turning to slide her toes into her nude suede ankle boots. She looked back up at Aubrey, who still frowned. "Alright, if you'd just _told_ me you wanted to know what it was like I probably wouldn't have headbutted you. I'm sorry." She offered an apology as a symbol of peace, despite knowing it hadn't really been her fault anyway. It seemed to soften the sourness in Aubrey's face nevertheless.

"First, that's weird, and second – apology noted." Aubrey said flatly.

"Good." Chloe grinned back at her and shrugged her Aztec woollen poncho over her dress. She'd still opted for the pink one, Aubrey having added it was a great choice, even though she wasn't out to impress. "Now come on, we're going to be late."

Chloe had always had a strange fascination with the way the world looked through a moving car window. Especially at night. And even more so at night and in the rain. She was reminded of long summer drives as a child; cross country ventures with her dad where she would be tossed onto the back seat of the car in the early hours of the morning with her brother at her side, still tired and wrapped in blankets. She'd wake slowly, watching the world unfurl in the soupy light of the morning, pressing her forehead up against the cool glass of the window as the car sped along the highway. They would count houses, then cars, then trees and then clouds as they travelled further out of town, the hours ticking by and civilisation becoming sparser; towns turned to villages, villages to fields, and the green eventually replaced with rolling, dusty deserts.

Her brother would whine incessantly; he was too hot, tired, hungry, too cold, sweaty, uncomfortable – all along Chloe sat silently, enjoying how she felt secure in her seat, the sweaty backs of her knees sticking to the brown leather of her dads car and holding her knees in her place. She would pretend she was a bumblebee; peeling her skin from the seat like an insect stuck to gluey pollen. She watched everything through the window, the hum of the engine drowning out her brother's moans and enveloping her in her own play world. The country whirled by; greens and blues into yellows and browns, a flash of speeding red or black or purple making her jump as another car flew past in the opposite lane. Sometimes she would pass the time by racing raindrops against each other (she almost _never_ won) and other times she would press her nose and sticky fingers right up against the window, her palms spread as flat as they would go, trying to see her reflection in the bulbous swell of the raindrops on the glass as best she could without going cross-eyed. Her brother would jab her in the ribs and she would turn and glare as fiercely as she could at his laughing face, before her dad would pull over and invite her to sit up in the front beside him. Her brother rarely got to sit in the front seats on the way out of town, and although she felt a little bad when she saw his glowering face in the sun visor mirror (his arms folded and his brow furrowed as he stared angrily out of the window) she always enjoyed the time beside her dad regardless.

The road was big and black and looming in front of her, rolling in a continuous swell in the yellow glow of the car headlamps. Just as Chloe's eyes would begin to droop, tired with a whole day of travelling, her dad would pull the car over to the side of the dusty highway, cut the engine and carry Chloe and her brother, one child scooped in either arm, across the dusty path, away from the road, and lay them down on the ground on a blanket he'd had hidden in his back pocket.

"Look," he would say, putting a hand on Chloe's and pointing it skyward. "Look at the stars."

Chloe would peer as best she could through her sleepy eyelids as her dad pointed out all the constellations he could remember. They were never right she found out in later years, but she liked them better that way.

"That one's a polar bay," he would say, tracing shapes with his finger in the dark air above them. "And that one's a lion, and a giraffe, and-" he tucked her tight into the crux of his arm "- that one, the red one, right there – that's a ladybird."

She would turn into his arm, pressing her grin into the warm leather of his coat.

"Don't be silly!"

"I'm not!" He laughed back.

"Ladybugs can't fly _that_ high!" she would question, looking up at her dad. Her brother had long since fallen asleep, warm in the curve of her dad's arm.

Her dad nodded and squeezed her close.

"They can fly as high as you want Chlo'. You want it bad enough and it'll happen. Don't forget that."

She would sleep the entire journey back, warm under her dad's heavy brown coat, spread across the entire back seat as her brother got to curl up in the front.

A cold hand on her thigh suddenly make her jump and she cricked her neck as she turned.

"You okay?" Aubrey asked. Chloe realised she had sunk sideways in the back seat of the cab and had been staring out of the window, with her head pressed against the window as she had done so many times as a child.

She nodded and forced a smile as she noticed Aubrey's hand on her thigh. She secretly wished it was Beca's hand; warm and loving, rather than platonically reassuring as she knew Aubrey's was instead, but she was grateful of the courage her presence gave her regardless.

The cab rumbled on through the city and Chloe watched the lights and the people through the window, all slow and ethereal under the yellow streetlamp glow. They were visible one minute then gone the next as the cab turned a corner or pulled away from a junction. She wondered why there was a man sat on her own in a doorway, and then he was gone, and she wanted to know instead how long the couple at the crossing had been holding hands – and then they too were gone, and the cab was slowing, and the door was opening and the driver docked his cap as Chloe stepped out onto the pavement beside Aubrey.

She hesitated for a second, looking up to the sky as rain began to fall on her face, then Aubrey's face was sharp in her ear, her bony fingers intertwining with her own and pulling her under the canopy entrance of the hotel and into the busy foyer.

"Last chance," Aubrey said, her eyebrow raised. Chloe spotted a line of suited hotel attendants taking invitations from a busy throng of guests in the corner of the reception. A couple brushed past them and Chloe turned back to look at Aubrey who was watching her expectantly.

"We can go now, if you don't want to stay. This was yours and Bec-"

"No, come on," Chloe said, suddenly breaking from her suffocating thoughts and pulling Aubrey towards the line of people waiting to enter the hall. She fumbled in her purse for the tickets. "I got priority seating, right on the front row," she said, trying to distract herself from the weight that was creeping back up in her chest "so I think we go in somewhere else – yep, look, over here," She pointed to a separate sign at the side of the thickening throng of people. "We can go in first over there too."

Her fingers brushed the edge of a thick envelope in her purse and she tugged at it, pulling it free. She held it out to a young hotel assistant who stood at the entrance to the hall.

"Priority only, ma'am." He said, pointing to the sign. Chloe nodded.

"Chloe Beale, plus guest," she said, as he took the invite from her and thumbed through the sheets.

"Sorry ma'am." He said after a moment. "I can let Miss Beale in, but there's no ticket for your guest."

"What?" Chloe gasped, her mouth agape. "I got two – two tickets-"

The assistant held up a sheet of cream paper – the invitation letter, yes, Chloe recognised that, and then one, _two_ invitation cards. Except there was only one.

"But – but -" Chloe stammered.

And then she suddenly knew where the spare ticket was.

"Can you not just let us in?" she heard Aubrey say.

Chloe remembered leaving the ticket on Beca's desk.

"No ma'am, I'm really sorry."

She'd taken it to surprise her.

"The letter says Chloe, plus one," Aubrey said. "So I'm the plus one. I don't really see the problem."

She'd signed it with a simple 'x' and propped it across the keyboard of Beca's laptop.

_"What does this do?" she remembered asking playfully, pointing at the mixing desk. If Beca came over she'd surely see the card. It was the morning of their shopping trip and Chloe had been childishly excited as she'd skipped over to Baker Halls, the envelope tucked in the inside breast pocket of her blue pea coat. She'd hoped to hand it to Beca when she'd opened the door – practised the conversation over in her head – but then Kimmy-Jin had answered – watching her with her beady eyes and making her all uncomfortable._

_ As Beca rummaged in her closet and Chloe made herself at home at her desk she dropped it tentatively on the desk when neither Beca nor Kimmy-Jin had been watching, then tried to tease Beca into coming over to find it._

_ Instead though Beca had shut the lapto, reset the mixing dials and summoned her to leave without a second glance, moaning about personal space and invasion of privacy and – with a pang to the chest, Chloe remembered – complaining about Jesse._

"Ma'am, I'm really sorry, without that second ticket, I cannot let you in."

"It's fine, I'll go," Aubrey said, her hand on Chloe's shoulder, turning her away from the attendant.

"No," Chloe said, shrugging her hand away, finding words again in her sickly mouth. "You're not going anywhere. I know where the other ticket is. And I'm gonna go get it."


	20. Chapter 20

"You're insane." Aubrey said stoutly.

Chloe just shook her head.

"She won't even be home – and even if she is I can just take the ticket and go."

"I'll come with you." Aubrey said, turning towards the exit. Chloe put a hand on her forearm.

"Nope." She said, shaking her head again. "I'll be fine, I promise. Take your ticket, sit down and I'll be back in twenty minutes. Thirty tops."

Aubrey's eyes narrowed but Chloe smiled reassuringly. She had no idea why she felt so confident that this was the right thing to do, but it was, and she was standing her ground. Chloe pressed her invite into Aubrey's hands. "I'll be fine."

"You've got twenty minutes then. Any longer and I _will _come and find you and I _will_ punch Beca square in the-"

"I'll be _fine_ Bree!"

The assistant took back the invite from Aubrey's grip, pointing behind her to her seat. As she walked away Aubrey glanced over her shoulder back at Chloe, but Chloe smiled and mouthed "Go!".

She did feel less secure without Aubrey at her side, but she knew the cab ride would be short, she'd go straight to Baker Halls – Beca would almost certainly be at the station – and then take the ticket. She'd go, be firm, and come back, showing Beca (and herself) that she didn't need her as much as her sleepless nights and aching chest told her otherwise.

She took a deep breath, hitching her coat further up round her shoulders. Through the throng of people in the doorway she could see the rain coming down heavier than ever.

"Excuse me," she said, pushing past them and out into the street. Her hand came up to her face, cupping her brow from the falling rain. Normally Chloe would have stopped, hands out to her sides, enjoying the feeling of the impact pressing on her palms – but now wasn't the time for dramatics.

Instead, her other hand reached up, loose in the air to hail a cab from the steady stream of traffic opposite. A few drove past, their lights bright and their tyres noisy through the puddles – but none of them stopped. She turned back to the hotel – she would have to wait there for one to arrive, the rain was continuing to pelt down – but as she went towards the canopy a firm hand clasped her shoulder and made her jump.

"It's Chloe, right?"

She looked up and her chest tightened, feeling as though all the air had been knocked from her lungs. She could just make out the face beneath a dripping hood.

"Jesse – I don't –" she gasped. He shook his head and rain trickled down his face.

"I'm not here to cause trouble."

"Leave me alone," Chloe tried to turn away from him, shrugging his arm – but he quickly sidestepped her, blocking her escape.

"What the fuck are you doing?" she glared up at him, feeling rain drip from the end of her nose. Her dress was starting to stick to her legs.

"I didn't do it." He said, his voice getting louder through the fight against the hammering rain. "Whatever you think went on between me and Beca – I promise you it didn't."

"Get out of my way." Chloe said, but her voice lacked any of the hate and venom she felt in the pit of her gut.

"No." he shrugged. "I saw you together. I'm not being the jackass to get in your way."

Chloe glowered. "I don't know why you care but _I _don't care. Move."

He scoffed and rain sprayed from his lips.

"Do me a favour. That door can show me how it's feeling better than Beca can, and I can still tell she's hurting. Probably more than you. You need to fix this."

"_I_ need to fix this? Jesse, are you kidding me?" She didn't care anymore that she was soaked to the bone. She felt sick; angry and sick. "I'm not the one who's dating like four people at once and pretending all the time to be the injured party all the time." Her anger made her stamp her foot and the puddle splashed up around her boots. "I'm not doing anything Jesse, now leave me alone."

"Chloe, you're gonna make a huge mistake," Jesse called as she brushed past.

"I've already made a huge mistake – I let Beca into my life!" she shouted, glaring at him over her shoulder. He shrugged and she turned away, infuriated at his nonchalant attitude. Whether or not she was crying she couldn't tell; her face was hot and flushed and the rain still beat down onto her cheeks.

It was then, as she darted away from Jesse who had bowed his head in the rain, did she look up to the canopy of the hotel entrance and see Beca herself, standing in the doorway. Chloe stopped in her tracks, a soft 'oh' falling from her lips as she watched her, unable to pull her eyes away. Beca looked awkwardly around, an arm crossed over her midriff, damp fingers holding tight to the crux of her other elbow. She had an oversized jacket on, draped on her shoulders, but it gaped at the front and Chloe could see a band of the dress she had chosen – _they_ had chosen – the teal one from the old lady's shop on the high street.

Chloe was suddenly aware of the rain sticking her hair to her face, and then realised she had nowhere to run – no option but to walk towards the canopy of the hotel. She could brush past her, and she wanted to – so desperately – but she couldn't. Not really.

"Did you mean that?" Beca said, all stiff and awkward as Chloe approached. Her face was pale, blanched from the cold.

Chloe shrugged.

"What are you doing here?"

"I uh…" Beca held out the envelope Chloe had left for her. "I kind of… I wanted to hope… I mean, if we could sort things out…"

Jesse suddenly appeared at her side.

"What she means is I told her you needed to sort things out. I apologised she swiftly right-hooked me -" he pulled back the hood slightly to reveal an angry bruise creeping around the socket of his right eye "-and then I told her I would try and fix things." He shrugged. "It was the least I could do."

"I'd rather you didn't do anything, if it's all the same." Chloe said gruffly, not looking up from her feet.

She didn't know what to do, what to say; she'd practiced this moment over in her head a thousand times over the past few days and was sure she knew all the superlative insults she would fire in both of their directions. But now she was here, with Beca stood in front of her, Jesse at her side, trying to fix things, make the peace – she didn't know what to do.

She swallowed hard. "I don't-"

Beca nodded, looking down. "I messed up. I should have told you straight away what this dick decided to do." She thumbed in Jesse's direction.

"How was I supposed to know you batted-" he tried to interject but Beca's furious scowl stopped him.

"I think it's time you left us alone," she said, then glanced over at Chloe. "I mean, if you'll give me a minute, just to talk – then I'll go – I swear."

Chloe lifted her gaze from where she had been watching a puddle bleed into the nude leather of her shoes. She nodded softly, truly unable to fight the ache in her chest that told her otherwise.

Jesse stepped backwards away from them, his arms up to his sides with a shrug.

"For what it's worth Chloe – I am a jerk. And I don't lie. So if you can put those together you'll also realise I'm telling the truth about me and Beca. We're not together, we never have been, and I guess we never will be either. I'm sorry." He added as a mumbled afterthought before hiking his hood up further and turning from them, walking off down the street and disappearing into the night, his shoulders hunched and his hands stuffed into his pockets.

Chloe bit her lip between her teeth before turning back to Beca.

"So…" she said quietly. "You wanted to talk to me about something?" she avoided Beca's gaze for as long as she could, but when she looked up she saw that her eyes were so sad and tired and it sent a pang to her chest.

"This… this is the most ridiculous thing I've ever done." Beca said after a moment, waving her hand down her front to indicate the sodden dress.

Chloe smiled gently.

"I can't make you change your mind," Beca continued, glancing away from Chloe, who watched her with wide eyes. "I can't make you take back what you just said to Jesse either."

"I didn't… I didn't mean…" Chloe mumbled.

Beca bit her lip between her teeth then exhaled. "It's alright. You can think it if you want. I should have told you. I just thought it'd be easier if I kept it to myself."

Chloe watched the rain drip down Beca's nose and her hair, seeping into the front of her dress, turning it a dark green, blotchy with the damp, and sticking to her body beneath. Beca's make-up had too begun to bleed into smudges around her eyes. There was pain in her eyes, Chloe thought, and desperation; a straining, desperate fear.

"I haven't been honest with you, and as much as it goes against all of my better judgement I kind of want to start." Beca smiled painfully. "I mean, if you'll let me."

Chloe swallowed then nodded slowly. Her eyes stung, but she wasn't going to cry. She _wasn't_. She wanted to cry and hold her and push her away and shout and kiss her – all at once, but instead she wrapped her cold arms around herself and forced herself not to look away.

"You are the sweetest, craziest and most beautiful girl I have ever met. Ever." Beca said slowly, then laughed uncomfortably. "I mean… well, that sounded better in my head…"

Chloe smiled. A warmth was swelling in her chest, and she couldn't fight it.

"And I am an _absolute dick_ for fighting against everything I felt when I was with you. I thought I could keep you safe by not letting you in. I thought I was safer keeping you away. I probably ended up hurting us both more. I get that now, and I've never been more sorry about anything in my life."

Chloe's teeth pressed hard into the inside of her cheek. She was _not_ going to cry.

"I can't beg for a second chance. I can't force you to change your mind. I know I could apologise a thousand times more – a million times even – but I don't think you'd want to hear it." Beca's voice wavered and a quick hand flashed to her cheek, wiping something away.

"What – what I can do though," she went on, fighting the break in her voice. "What I can do is tell you… I just want to be your sweatshirt, Chloe. I didn't think it was possible before, but I've never known anything feel so right. I want to be the one who holds you, comforts you, looks out for you, makes you smile. It's never going to be perfect, and I'll probably make you angry, but I want to be there to make it better afterwards too." She looked at the ground for a second, and then looked back to Chloe, her eyes wide, wet and brimming. "I just wanted you to know."

Chloe didn't say anything. She didn't know what to say.

"I'll be here, if you change your mind." Beca blinked, and then she was gone, her tiny frame padding away down the pavement, disappearing away into the rain.

Chloe stared hard at the ground. The invite lay on the brickwork at her feet, the single black 'x' beginning to bleed into the paper. She crouched to pick it up, the corner sliding under her nail and into the palm of her hand. She stood slowly, thumbing away the water from the envelope. She glanced first through the double doors to her left where she saw Aubrey's face, impatient and questioning through the crowd at the other end of the reception. She turned away, staring hard back down the street, straining to see if she could still see Beca through the rain.

"You got it then?" Aubrey said, appearing beside her and swiping the invite from Chloe's grip. Chloe snapped her head to look at her. "What's wrong?"

Chloe stared blankly up at her.

"You're freezing Chlo', come on, let's go inside."

Chloe turned her head away slowly, looking back down the street. She could see nothing but hard pelts of rain, hitting the sidewalk in a grey angry spray.

"Chloe! Come on!"

_Make a decision,_ Chloe thought, ignoring Aubrey's stern voice and the feel of her grip on her arm.

"Come _on_! Inside. _Now_. The show's about to start."

_She'll be gone soon,_ Chloe thought,_ and then I'll never be able to find her._ She turned back to Aubrey again, watching her forehead crease in an angry frown. Her mouth opened again but Chloe didn't hear the words coming out.

"I have something to do." Chloe said suddenly, shrugging away from Aubrey's grip. She stepped away, out into the rain.

"What? Chloe – what the hell are you doing?"

"You're gonna hate me – but I need to do this." Chloe called back.

"Chloe – what are – is this to do with Beca? Chloe, I _swear-"_

But Chloe ran. She didn't find out what Aubrey would swear – she was away down the street. Her boots splashed through puddles, rainwater dripping down her legs. She was properly soaked within seconds. Her hair clung to her face in a limp, damp mess, but she kept running, her eyes straining through the dark to see the figure she craved so badly.

She called her name as she ran but nobody turned to answer her calls. Her chest burned and her legs begun to ache. A voice told her she knew she'd damned Aubrey's cardio too soon.

And then there she was. Her tiny frame, hunched against the rain, a nervous hand in the air trying to flag down a cab at the kerbside. Chloe's pace slowed as she approached unnoticed.

And then her hand reached out, finding Beca's other which hung limply at her side, and her chest swelled as Beca turned to her, jumping at the contact as their cold fingers laced together. Her eyes were wide, Chloe noticed, and she glanced down to their interlinked fingers. Chloe slowly reached up and brushed Beca's cheek, thumbing her cheek gently, wiping away the black mascara smears that tracked down her pale skin. Beca trembled under Chloe's touch.

Her cheek stayed cradled in the crux of Chloe's palm and her thumb brushed gently across the skin. Chloe laughed nervously as she leant in slowly and pressed their foreheads together. She felt Beca's fingertips tracing her waist.

"We'll work on this," she promised quietly. "We can do this. We can be together, I know it."

Their lips pressed together gently, wet from salty tears and the rain. Chloe felt Beca's fingers unlink from her own and then press cold against her cheek, pulling her close and thumbing away her own tears. She smiled at the touch and felt the curve of Beca's smile in her kiss as their lips pressed together once more.

"We'll be alright." Beca whispered.

Chloe nodded.

"We'll be alright."


End file.
